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Christianity... 



..AND, 



Our Times. 



I 



CHRISTIANITY AND OUR TIMES. 



—BY— 



R. P. BRQRaP 



^^<;^'CLA^ 



CHICAGO 

INTERNATIONAL BOOK CO. 

1895. 



(^ 









COPYRIGHT, 

E. P. BRORUP, 

1895. 
(All rights reserved.) 



PriDUd by T. B. Arnold, 104 & 106 Franklin St , Chicago, 111. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

I. EVOLUTION IN RELIGION, 5. 

IL MORAL DIFFICULTIES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, - 17. 

in. RELATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT TO THE NEW, - 31. 

IV. CHRIST AND THE BIBLE, - - - - - 41. 

V. INTERPRETATION AND THE NEW DEPARTURE, - - 60. 

VI. INTERPRETATION AND RITUALISM, - - 75. 

VII. CREED AND DISCIPLINE, - - - - 89. 

VIII. FUTURE PUNISHMENT, .... 113. 
IX THE CHURCH AND THE LODGE, - . - - 134. 

X. DOCTRINE OF SANCTIFICATION, - - 146. 

XI. SUNDAY AND THE ADVENTISTS, - - - 156. 
XIL SOCIOLOGY AND CRIME, - - - 161. 
XIIL MODESTY, - - ... 175. 

XIV. WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE, - - - 193. 

XV. IMPENDING STRUGGLE OF RACES. - - - 204. 



CHAPTER I. 

EVOLUTION IN RELIGION. 

•'My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your 
ways my ways, saith the Lord." (Isaiah.) 

It may be stated as a preliminary, that this and suc- 
ceeding chapters are not concerned about definitions and 
interpretations of a denominational character. The 
religious discussion of to-day has passed beyond these. 
The question is now about the facts, or what have been 
regarded as such, rather than their interpretation. It is 
the foundation which God has laid that is assailed rather 
than the superstructure which men have built upon it. 
Nice definitions and interpretations of the Bible arouse 
but little attention. The question is about the Bible 
itself, and the facts of which it is believed to be a record. 
It is not so much a battle of different creeds, as a battle 
about that which is the foundation in all creeds. It is 
so understood by churches in general. Outposts of a 
denominational character are little defended, and assaults 
upon them are carelessly regarded. There are no her- 
etics of a denominational character, only as they attack 
that which is fundamental in all creeds do they gain 
attention. 

The modern theory of evolution as applied to reli- 
gion has reference to this fundamental view of it. It is 
not merely our understanding of religion that is sup- 



6 Christianity and Our Times. 

posed to be subject to development and improvement, 
but it is religion itself that is evolving and progressing. 
This is supposable on two conditions; first, that the facts 
in religion have not been all discovered, or else that 
religion itself is but a product of the age. 

The latter is the ground of the Materialist. He 
may confess that religion is useful as a matter of moral 
restraint, or as a sentiment beautifying life and giving 
color to it; but that beyond this there is nothing in it, 
that it is not founded on facts, but is a product of human 
nature combined with the conditions of life. Holding 
this view it is consistent to argue that religion may 
change in harmony with the age. It becomes then but 
an appendage to the existing civilization, the net result 
of sentiments and customs. A plant not planted by the 
heavenly Father and which '* can not be rooted up," 
but an ephemeral sprout, sprung from the sentiments, 
affections and passions of humanity, tempered by time 
and circumstances; the superficial garment which we 
ch^ge with the weather, an accidental upturning of 
evolution, development and progress. 

While some of our evolutionists hold this view of 
religion, others are Deists, and some profess to be Chris- 
tians. To these it belongs to show facts on which to 
base their conclusions. We boast of the progress of 
science, and with reason, for new facts have been and 
are discovered continually in all the branches of science, 
and their practical application. makes progress possible, 
theoretically as well as practically. But what new relig- 
ious fact has been discovered on which to base religious 
progress. In regard to morals, the fundamentals were 
known as long ago as we have any knowledge. The ten 
commandments answer as well to-day as in the time of 



Evolution in Religion. 7 

Moses, the summary of the moral law announced by 
Moses and emphasized by Christ " to love God with all 
our heart, mind and strength, and our neighbor as our- 
self " is broad enough even for our age. 

Broadly distinguished, there are two sources from 
which religious facts or knowledge may be obtained, — 
first, what God has revealed to us directly, and what he 
has revealed to us indirectly through nature around us 
and within. Reason, itself, is not a source; we must 
first know of things before we can reason about them. 
In regard to nature around us, it suggests an almighty, 
creative power, its beauty, harmony, grandeur and 
awfulness suggest like characteristics in the creative 
being. This the ancients fully appreciated, the heavens 
have always " declared the glory of God and the firma- 
ment showed his handiwork." **WhenI consider the 
heavens the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars 
which thou hast ordained; what is man" — how humble in 
comparison with the power manifested, and naturally 
how disposed to bow in reverence and worship the Cre- 
ator. So man observed and reasoned and caught the 
inspiration from the beginning of his creation. 

Human nature within has been the same in all ages. 
Adam and Eve exhibited it in the same manner as we. 
Ideas of right and wrong, the impelling or restraining 
force of conscience, the faculties and emotions of love, 
hate, fear, etc., have been the same as far back as we 
have any record. The dual nature in man with opposing 
tendencies were understood even before St. Paul so 
vividly described it. Men-, blinded by sin and passion ^ 
have denied to the better part of their nature, growth 
and development, and so they are doing to-day prob- 
ably in no less degree. 



8 Christianity and Our Times. 

In regard to a direct revelation from God, the 
Bible is the only record of such which is admitted. This 
record was completed 1800 years ago. It has been what 
it was meant to be — a revelation. The ancients who 
had a mind for the things of God understood it as well 
as we do. Attempts materially to alter their interpreta- 
tion have proved failures, admitted to be so by those 
who have made such attempts. It has been tried by 
Unitarians and like bodies, but proved tooiiard on their 
sense of honesty and was abandoned. The authority of 
the Bible was finally set aside, and reason, — or what 
goes by that name, — was given the supreme place. 

Whatever the source of information or knowledge we 
must insist on facts or actual discoveries as a basis for 
the supposed evolution in religion, just as much as we 
would if the question was about evolution in science. 
The ideas that chase each other in men's minds, the 
opinions and factions, the theories and speculations that 
imagination is starting up at every turn, all this is only 
the vagaries common to every age, and will not do as 
the basis for actual progress, nor as proof that it has 
been accomplished. 

The two most important religious doctrines are 
those of the Supreme Being and the immortality of the 
soul. It is thinkable that facts might be discovered that 
would actually increase our knowledge with regard to these 
two doctrines. But has such been the case, has science or 
progress helped us to solve any of the mysteries of God 
and the soul's immortality; have our immense telescopes 
discovered the spirit world, the throne of the Eternal, 
and bid faith become sight? 'It will be answered that we 
understand more of God's creation, doubtless, but do we 
understand more of the nature of God and our relation 



Evolution in Religion. 9 

to him; have the men of science of to-day arrived to a 
better comprehension of God, a clearer understanding 
of their relation to him, and a more intimate realization 
of this relation? Men of science as a general thing do 
not claim much in this direction; some of them have 
come to the conclusion that there is no God; in more 
cases they declare that if there be a God we do not know 
anything about him, nor can we know; others profess in 
verv fact to believe there is a God, but do not believe 
we sustain any relation to him, or can realize such a 
thing. Something besides science and progress will 
evidently be needed if we are to get ahead of Moses, 
Elijah or St. Paul in our knowledge of God and the real- 
ization of his presence and power. Taking the testimony 
of science, God is more unknowable now than ever be- 
fore. If scientists worship at all, it is " mostly before the 
altar of the unknowable.'' Those of them that do in 
fact profess to know of God are content to learn of 
Moses, Isaiah, St. Paul or Christ. 

If we consider the other great religious doctrine, 
that of the soul's immortality, what do our theologians 
of to-day know on this subject from the light of nature 
that Plato did not know and argue 2,000 years ago; or 
what do they know of it from the light of revelation that 
St. Paul did not know and argue 1,800 years ago. We 
have science and progress and liberal ideas — what infor- 
mation have they furnished us on this subject. The 
doctrine of the soul's immortality, together with that of 
a Supreme Being, that concerns himself about us, are 
fundamental in all religions. Knowledge and discoveries 
on these subjects would be gratefully received; and judg- 
ing from the pretensions of the new departure we would 
suppose their theologians had at last cleared up these old 



^^w^ 



10 Christianity and Our Times. 

mysteries so essential to faith and morals. Have any of 
our new theologians had a peep behind the veil that was 
not vouchsafed to former generations. The interest in 
the future world is immense, even charlatans are heard 
when they pretend to speak knowingly on this subject; 
millions stand waiting with bated breath for someone to 
declare to us the certainty. St. Paul was caught up to 
the third heaven and heard words that it is not lawful 
for man to utter, have any of our -'new lights " been 
caught up to heaven and seen that " they were all there," 
or down to the other place and seen the fires extin- 
guished, so that they might bid the wicked take courage, 
and dispute established doctrines on the ground of per- 
sonal or superior knowledge. But alas, for their efforts 
not a scrap of additional knowledge has been forthcom- 
ing. Differences in opinion, now as ever, are the result 
of differences in sentiment and different degrees of faith. 
Evolution has evolved nothing, development developed 
nothing, progress has left us in regard to the subject 
where we were thousands of years ago. We may be- 
lieve the Bible, and take the hints of nature and so might 
our ancestors as far back as we have any knowledge. 

People of to-day in the pride of their achievements 
in the field of science and material progress, scorn the 
idea that an age that is past should be permitted to do 
the thinking for them on any subject. But the Al- 
mighty has claimed the right to do some thinking for 
us, and made it known even to former generations for 
our benefit. His thoughts are not evanescent, they are 
not apt to become obsolete. "God's thoughts are not 
like men's thoughts, nor his ways like our ways." Some 
of his thoughts about men are not complimentary, some 
of his precepts not to their taste, and some of his warn- 



Evolution in Religion. ii 

ings are alarming. We have the liberty to disregard his 
thoughts and perhaps to do so will seem to widen the 
gate and broaden the way before us, but Christ says the 
end of that way is perdition. 

It was necessary that the Creator should thus from 
the very beginning declare to man his thoughts and re- 
veal to him both his own nature and man's nature, their 
mutual relation, and the possibilities before man. He 
had a soul to save as well as we, and the Creator was 
interested in him as much as in us. He could not afford 
to let him go groping till he had accidentally stumbled 
upon the knowledge, or till evolution and progress had 
turned it up somewhere along in the ages. The steam 
engine and electric light might thus be left as contingen- 
cies, but " the light which lighted every man that cometh 
into the world" and the road to heaven could not be 
left to man's ingenuity and invention to discover. We 
must believe that God has done for man what he could 
in this respect from the very beginning, and that ignor- 
ance is due to sin, and the fact that men " do not desire 
the knowledge of God." 

The evolution theory is not only applied to religion 
itself; but also to the human race, its social, moral and 
religious development. It is really but two ways of 
presenting the same question. In the express words of 
a leading evolutionist: "The theory of evolution in- 
volves the belief that from the beginning to end it goes 
on irresistibly and unconsciously." The force behind this 
supposed movement may be conceived to be God, or 
something inherent in nature, according to the faith of 
the theorjst. It is the Calvinistic doctrine of predesti- 
nation worked over, mainly by those who have become 
impressed with it by early associations. Being dissatis- 



12 Christianity and Our Times* 

fied with the old form of belief, and yet having the idea 
ingrafted in them, they set to work to give it a shape 
that better suited their temperament. The principle is 
the same but the result looked for is different. Presby- 
terians believe they find their doctrine in the Bible. 
Evolutionists take it for granted that religious and moral 
evolution is bound up with material progress and increase 
of knowledge, though history more often presents the 
two as moving in opposite directions. As in the words 
quoted above, this evolution is believed to be from be- 
ginning to end an unconscious movement in a straight 
line, including the whole race, we are in it whether we 
would or not and whether we are conscious of it or not. 
It would occur to one at once, that this irresistible, all- 
controlling something would relieve the individual of a 
great responsibility, both in regard to himself and the 
world's progress. We are told, however, that our 
volitions, motives, desires and actions are part of it — as 
wheels in a clock-work, but it remains as much a clock- 
work as before the explanation. Absolute irresistible 
sovereignty and free moral agency, it is the old enigma 
which philosophers have tried in vain to solve so as to 
make it look consistent with reason and the facts of which 
we are conscious. The Presbyterian doctrine of pre- 
destination has been accused of cruelty and the like; the 
evolutionists do not err on that side. They have not 
been hampered by any revelation of Scripture and are 
but little inconvenienced by the revelation of facts. 
They ask themselves what results are desired, and behold 
- it is granted. It is that " larger hope," which would 
have us hope that sin and evil is not what it is Seen, felt 
and declared to be. Unfortunately for their theory, the 
world of facts does not work in harmony with it. The 



Evolution in Religion. 13 

world in history and at present look very much as though 
free moral agents of indifferent character have had the 
control of it and shaped it, rather than some irresistible 
power supposed to be beneficent and overruling every- 
thing, including the action of free moral agents. The 
world and its history look as though men have in very 
fact been free and done about "as they listed." The 
ugliness of sin is more conspicuous than the beauty of 
holiness, the ruins and wastes of a demoralized race are 
strewn all along the ages. It is not a concerted move- 
ment, but opposing movements. There has been no 
irresistible, all-controlling power, preventing man from 
crossing God's plan of goodness and marring his creation. 
No uniform result is produced, but on the contrary, re- 
sults as far apart as the east is from the west; spots of 
heaven here, and bottomless pits of hell there. Such 
things as hells could never have been possible within the 
boundaries of God's creation, unless corrupt beings were 
free to act out their own characters and destiny, in spite 
of supreme goodness. Perhaps we are told that all these 
ugly facts are but dreams that will vanish. We have to 
do only with what we know, the facts of the present and 
past. We can judge of the future only in the light of 
what we know or have known. Of these there has been 
nothing more impressive than sin and pain. This is the 
realization that keeps us interested and awake in spite of 
ourselves. Pain will convince us that there is no mis- 
take about it. We might dream away heaven and hap- 
piness, the true and the beautiful, and make believe they 
are inrealities, but not sin, pain and misery. 

Excited imaginings of the future of this earth are 
common nowadays, but whatever of progress there may 
be, it will remain true that our life in this world, as well 



'.V^-^WY^ 



14 Christianity and Our Times. 

as the world itself, is but a temporary affair, liable to be 
snuffed out like a candle any time. We are told to look 
for revelations of wonder both in the religious and scien- 
tific world, the future even one or ten thousand years 
hence is held up to view. We will not have to wait so 
long for new revelations of all kind. The future world 
so near on hand, will have new revelations far surpassing 
anything this world can ever offer, and being so much 
nearer on hand than the distant future of this world, it 
ought to concern us the more, and we ou^ht to look for 
it in the light of the revelations which Christ said should 
endure till heaven and earth pass away. We find min- 
isters of the gospel excited over evolution and progress, 
and spoiling what little they might do to better the world 
for vain imaginings of what evolution is going to bring 
about a hundred years hence. What if God again should 
come down and confound our Babel which we are 
boasting to build up into heaven, as more than once in 
ages past, obliterating rising and prosperous civiliza- 
tions so that even their knowledge and inventions, largely, 
have perished and some of it not yet re-discovered. 

Revelation speaks in general terms about the future 
of the human race, not as setting boundaries that would 
imply limitations to man's freedom of action, but rather 
as predictions in the form of calculations based on ten- 
dencies and forces within and outside of man, the gen- 
eral result weighed and balanced by the highest wisdom. 
Isaiah paints the future of the church in glowing im- 
agery. Christ speaks in plain terms of increasing wick- 
edness to the end of time. There is no contradiction 
between the two. The church of God's saints is one 
thing, ''the world" is another, the Bible never con- 
founds the two. Humanity is not moving in one 



Evolution in Religion. 15 

direction, individuals are all the time choosing and going 
in opposite directions. The general tendency of human 
nature is downward, it takes supernatural force to arrest 
this tendency and turn it in the opposite direction. This 
force is a moral influence which men may resist and by 
resisting lose it. Whenever this force has been lacking, 
nations and civilizations have gone down rapidly and 
sometimes perished in their corruption. We believe 
truth and righteousness will have victories in the future 
as in the past, and such will be needed to arrest moral 
degeneration. Mere knowledge, scientific and otherwise, 
is a pov/er that is enlisted in the service, both of good 
and evil, and used effectually by both. Discoveries and 
knowledge rather tend to intensify the struggle than to 
make certain the result. Wealth, like knowledge, is a 
power both for good and evil. Enormous increase of 
wealth is more generally a two-edged sword on the side 
of evil, on the one hand a means of oppression, on the 
other of luxury and self-indulgence. Material develop- 
ment inevitably results in increased density of population, 
which creates new problems and increases dangers; with 
all our knowledge and skill, we have scarcely been able 
this last quarter of a century, to meet the dangers and 
solve the problems as fast as they have arisen. History 
and present experience are decidedly against the pre- 
sumption that any or all the factors of material progress, 
will insure a moral redemption of the race. To kno^v 
how the future of the world will be, we must wait and 
see how men will act. It is the free moral force in man 
that will make the world what it is going to be in the 
future as it has in the past, there is no other factor or 
inherent necessity that will decide the result. We do 
not forget that God is a factor in the life and destiny of 



1 6 Christianity and Our Times. 

the human race, but reason demands it to be taken for 
granted he has done the very best he could in the past, 
if the world has been wicked in the past in spite of all 
God could do, it may continue to be so in the future if 
it cKoose. 



CHAPTER II. 

MORAL DIFFICULTIES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

**The grass witheretb, the flower fadeth; but the word of 
our God shalT stand forever." Isaiah. 

It does not come within the scope of this chapter to 
examine criticism of historical portions of the Old Tes- 
tament, except in a general way, only as what is recorded 
as facts can be proved false, has it a bearing upon the 
moral quality. 

Modern criticism is concerned about the truth and 
reliability of the history of the Bible, the books them- 
selves and the account they give. It is a question of 
infinite detail and boundless room for difference of 
opinion and controversy. The critcism, although the 
critics are many, may very well be viewed as a whole, 
for although opinions differ widely on many points, there 
are certain broad characteristics and agreements as to 
main results, A Christian inquiring as to the value of 
this criticism, could not afford at once to occupy himself 
with the details of it, this would take time and in some 
respects special training. But he would, from his know- 
ledge and comprehension of the spirit and text of the 
Bible, be eminently fit to judge of the general character 
both of the critics and their criticism. He would be 
able to tell whether the general tone and expression of 
the criticism is such as inspires confidence in the single- 



1 8 Christianity and Our Times. 

ness of aim, the impartiality and disinterested love of 
truth on the part of the critic, for this is above all things 
demanded, and a critic cannot be one without pretend- 
ing to it. It should also be asked whether the critic has 
a fair comprehension of the spirit of the book he is 
criticising, and whether or not he is constitutionally op- 
posed to the general claim of the Bible as a special rev- 
elation from God, and perhaps unable to comprehend it 
as a record of supernatural manifestations; if this were 
the case, he would be both unwilling and unfit to inves- 
tigate the claim. As to disinterestedness and impar- 
tiality where religion is concerned, it may as well be taken 
for granted, from general experience, that there is none. 
Men may be disinterested and impartial in treating of 
politics or science, but we never saw a disinterested 
statement about religion or the Bible. It touches the 
most vital part of man's nature and he will be interested 
as Christ said " he that is not for me is against me." In 
general it is true that the critics who are most profuse in 
their profession of friendliness and disinterestedness are 
the most virulent in their prejudices and opposition to 
the Bible. This prejudice and opposition to the spirit 
and text of the Bible is cropping out continually in their 
treatment of the subject, and the professionalism of the 
critic, which naturally engenders pride, conceit and 
vanity, tends to strengthen it. To find an occasion and 
make a point is the aim, and no profession was ever more 
skillful in making out an occasion and profit by it. That 
truth may be found in spite of prejudice and constitu- 
tional disadvantages is admitted, but the presumption 
against their efforts as a whole is naturally strong. 

I may seem unjust to treat the critics as a class, it is 
true that they are not equally opposed to Christianity, 



Moral Difficulties in the Old Testament. 19 
but neither can they be said to have accepted it, they 
may therefore be viewed as a class outside the Christian 
faith, A critical investigation of the Bible involves an 
attitude of doubt and suspense, which is inconsistent 
with the claim of acceptance. We must first be through 
with our investigation and arrive at definite conclusions 
before we can be said to have accepted it. It is per- 
haps the most serious charge against the whole class that 
they do not as a general thing take their place where 
they belong. Nearly all profess themselves Christians, 
while they are yet investigating the claims of Christianity 
upon their acceptance. They excuse their inconsistency 
by telling us, that no matter what may or may not be 
true, there will always be some truth and some kind of a 
Christ left us. But this is not the question. What is 
generally left them in the process of their investigation, 
is a residuum of historical truth and moral precepts. 
This is not the Christian religion, it is not religion or 
Christianity at all, even when it is coupled with the name 
and person of some kind of a Christ. Christianity pur- 
ports to include a scheme of redemption, the plan and 
purpose of which is revealed through the prophets, and 
finally by God himself appearing in this world as " the 
word made flesh and dwelling among us." The con- 
necting links of this plan begins at the very creation 
with the fall and corruption of man, and ends only with 
the dissolution of all things earthly. The value of Chris- 
tianity in connection with the moral law is rather that of 
sanction than revelation, We may know the moral law 
without Christianity, but we could not know that God 
would in the other world sit in judgment upon our acts, 
and that the consequences of them would be eternal bliss 
or woe. Of no less importance is the revelation of God 



20 Christianity and Our Times. 

as a Spirit in the world, it reveals to us the fact that we 
can have communion with God, be conscious of his 
presence and power in our own soul and in those around 
us. Both the Old and new Testaments are saturated 
with this teaching. It is holiness and communion with 
God, far above any morality. When those, therefore,, 
who have nothing left of the Bible but a residuum of 
historical truths and moral precepts, profess themselves 
believers in Christianity and its religion, they are dis- 
honest, for they could not be honestly ignorant of the 
fact, that this is neither Christianity nor religion. 

A Christian may have sufficient confidence in his 
faith to investigate the claims of the critics without los- 
ing his character as a Christian. But in so far as he 
assumes the attitude of the critic, that of an investigator, 
his faith is suspended, and his character as a Christian 
impaired, he must wait for results of his investigation 
before his faith can become settled. There is no virtue 
in pretending to a faith that is a mere state of idle 
passivity, but the Scriptures take it for granted that the 
evidence is sufficient to warrant the strongest faith of an 
intelligent moral character; a state of doubt and suspense 
is ascribed to sin and moral weakness. That this is the 
state of very many Christians nowadays is apparent, and 
the effort to change their position everytime the critics 
cry " lo here, or lo there " is painful. Those who depend 
upon the critics to settle their faith and determine for 
them what to believe, may have to wait long, and it is 
not likely that their faith will at any time be sufficiently 
strong or settled to remove mountains, nor a molehill. 
The critics are not concerned about having the faith set- 
tled, if it should become settled their vocation would be 
gone, and this is a principal consiileration, 



Moral Difficulties in the Old Testament. 21 

If it is merely a question of finding occasions for 
doubt or disputes, such can scarcely ever be lacking. In 
regard to many questions, evidence cannot be adduced 
after this lapse of time that will compel belief. In such 
cases the natural bias of the disputant is apt to determine 
his convictions. The believer will fall back on his faith 
in inspiration. Those on the other hand who are not in 
sympathy with the spirit of the Bible, will easily make 
out a case against it. A more or less airy hypothesis, 
will, in their eyes, assume the shape of a solid demon- 
stration; the objection that can be made to appear plaus- 
ible, will at once be accepted as proved; whatever is not 
quite plain, will be seen as an insurmountable obstacle, 
and difficulties will be aggravated with care and skill. 
One cannot fail to perceive these characteristics in the 
writings of the critics, and their defenders, for they are 
conspicuously apparent. 

But besides the question of the truthfulness of Old 
Testament history, and its moral import, there is an ac- 
count to be given of the morality of the Old Testament 
times as practiced by those whom God endorsed as 
worthy of favor. Of course, the question does not con- 
cern itself about the morality of the ancients apart from 
God's approval or toleration, it might be what it would 
aside from this, but when those who are said to have been 
recipients of divine favor practiced certain things of which 
we disapprove, it is natural to ask for an explanation. 
Of course many have been given, but there may be room 
for one more. 

First in regard to social purity, we find from the 
Bible and other accounts, that the ancients were not in- 
ferior to those of modern times in their appreciation of 



22 Christianity and Our Times. 

virtue, and detestation of vice. Their laws against im- 
purity and their praise of virtue prove this. But what 
then about the practice of polygamy; it was not con- 
trary to their ideas of virtue and purity. Then their 
ideas were faulty, doubtless, but it is one thing to have 
faulty ideas, and conform to a low standard, it is an- 
other thing to practice what we know and believe to be 
wrong. Let the objector imagine himself back among 
the ancients when polygamy was the common custom 
and try to convince the patriarch that his family life is 
immoral. The patriarch demands the proof, how will 
our modern objector furnish it? He c.nnnot prove that 
polygamy is wrong in the same sense that theft or mur- 
der is wrong, for the polygamist takes nothing either by 
force or fraud that belongs to anyone else. He might 
urge that it offends his sense of what is proper. But 
what right has he to make his sense of propriety a stand- 
ard for others, especially for those of another land and 
age. Suppose the polygamist offend nobody's sense of 
propriety and that nobody sees anything objectionable 
in it. The objector might urge again that it is not ac- 
cording to the highest ideas of home life, that it does 
not develop the home relations to that perfection of 
which they are capable. But here again he makes his 
own feelings and sympathies the standard, the polyga- 
mist might simply answer, that their ideas differ, that he 
has a right to judge from his own feelings and experience 
rather than from that of the objector, and that he be- 
lieves happiness and purity is obtainable in his case as 
well as in that of the other. He steals nobody's prop- 
erty, offends nobody's sense of propriety, his wives are 
in sympathy with him, are not conscious of any wrong 
done them. How is our modern objector going to pro- 



Moral Difficulties in the Old Testament. 23 

secute his case and convince the patriarch except of this, 
that their feelings and ideas differ. 

What may really be said of the patriarchal custom 
is, that it is the characteristic of a low level. God in 
his Word had set before men the higher standard; he 
had pictured Eden as the abode of one man with one 
wife; he had made no provision for polygamy, but in 
his arrangement as well as in his words put it out of 
sight. Man degenerated to a lower level and this with 
other customs characteristic of a low level became the 
consequence. 

How God may tolerate what he does not approve 
of, may be seen and illustrated by the case of civil gov- 
ernment among the Jews. God had set before the peo- 
ple as his standard, a republic, founded on preference 
for wisdom and virtue. But the people were unable to 
maintain this high standard of government, and God — 
not without protest — allowed them the government 
characteristic of a lower level, namely, the despotism of 
a king. Why has not our modern objector discovered 
the incompatibility of allowing this as well as polygamy 
and bondage? Only because the low level in regard to 
government is so near our own time that we have not 
yet become greatly impressed with the offense against a 
high standard of life involved in this kind of govern- 
ment. Yet the absolute rule of one man over a multi-' 
tude of his fellows, the average of which are his equals 
and some of them his superiors in wisdom and virtue, is 
an offence against social and civil life as great as that 
of polygamy or bondage. But the government of a 
despotism is better than no government, better than anar- 
chy, and the family relation of polygamy is better than 
no family, and not much worse than the free love tend- 



24 Christianity and Our Times. 

encies of our age. For this reason we can believe that 
David was good although both a despot and a polyga- 
mist, and that God was good who gave him credit for 
goodness. We bear with man's infirmities due to ignor- 
ance aud the influence of surroundings; but if he sin 
against light and knowledge, then there is an end of ex- 
cuse. There is a distinction between what is lower, 
compared with what is higher and that which cannot fail 
to be absolutely wrong under all circumstances. The 
ancients never had any doubt of difference as to what is 
absolutely wrong, such as murder, theft, adultery, per- 
jury and the like. If we had found in the Bible that any 
of these had been condoned by God, or practiced with 
impunity by men whom the Bible calls good, the case 
would have been clear and no defense attempted. 

The lower becomes unpardonable when brought 
into contact with the higher and still persisted in. When 
a community like that of the Mormons persist in prac- 
ticing polygamy in spite of warnings and a better exam- 
ple, it is right that the state should interfere, for it is a 
crime deliberately to lower ourselves in the scale of 
being. 

In regard to slavery, we may in the first place dis- 
pose of what in our age is understood by slavery, as it 
has been known in our Southern States. The negroes 
were stolen from their homes in Africa, and known to be 
stolen or forced; they were bought by the slave-holders. 
The law of Moses provides that " He that stealeth a man, 
and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand he shall 
surely be put to death." This passage pronounces sen- 
tence of death on all the former slave-holders in the 
South, for the stolen negroes or their descendants were 
found in their hands. 



Moral Difficulties in the Old Testament. 25 

What may, properly speaking, be called slaves, 
either among the Jews or surrounding nations were cap- 
tives taken in war. It was a law of war among the na- 
tions, that when an enemy surrendered himself, his life 
was surrendered and at the disposal of the captor He 
might be put to death, or he might be kept as a slave, 
and sold or bought as such. In either case no fault was 
found, they did as they expected to be done by. In 
going to war they were prepared to take the natural con- 
sequences, which were very serious, as the results 
of war must be under all circumstances. There is no 
more to be said about the natural results of war than 
about war itself. The necessity of it, or the possibility, 
is inherent in the depravity of the human race. What 
was allowed the Jews in this connection was not slavery 
in its essential character, but the right of war according 
to international rules and customs. It was necessary 
that they should be on equal footing with surrounding 
nations in this respect, for sentiment on the part of one 
nation can't oppose force on the part of another. 

What were called bondmen among the Jews were 
such as were sold for debt, or such as sold their time and 
labor voluntarily. When debt is incurred, justice de- 
mands it should be paid, and all that was at the disposal 
of the debtor, all that had money value was put under 
requisition toward paying the debt. Property was first 
taken possession of, if this did not suffice to square up 
the account, then the money value of the person of the 
debtor was considered, together with those of his wife 
and children, looked upon as one with himself. So far, 
the principle aimed at was nothing but justice, pure and 
simple. However it was not untempered with mercy, 
for the law provided that persons thus taken possession 



26 Christianity and Our Times. 

of could only be held to the Sabbath year, which might 
be the next, or it might at most be six years hence; and 
then it was distinctly provided that they should not be 
sent away empty. 

At the present time persons are not indeed taken 
possession of in payment of debt, but their time and 
labor may as truly be laid under contribution. How 
many slave all their life to pay a debt and hardly get the 
food and clothing the bondman was allowed; they do it 
nowadays without any hope of a Sabbath year to cancel 
the claim upon them. Not only had the person of the 
debtor to be set at liberty within a reasonable time, but 
his homestead, if it had been sold for debt, must be re- 
stored to him or his family at the year of Jubilee. It 
was moreover provided that usury or interest must not 
be taken for money lent to help a man in his necessity. 
Besides this, the Mosaic law contains numerous exhorta- 
tions and provisions in favor of the poor, the stranger, 
the fatherless and the widow. Under the law of Moses, 
monopoly in land or money, or the centralization of 
wealth in the hands of a few was impossible. There will 
be a need of studying the law of Moses, to solve certain 
social problems among us, which threaten society with 
disruption. 

The war of extermination against the Canaanite has 
been objected to as cruel and selfish. Apart from its 
cause and the object in view, it may surely be so re- 
garded, but so may any act of justice seen in the same 
narrow light. It is a proverb that nature is cruel, and 
there are necessities involved in the existence of an evil 
and law-breaking race, that will always appear cruel. 
That children should share the fate of their parents only 
partake of what is thus involved. The object was not 



Moral Difficulties in the Old Testament. 27 

simply punishment but improvement. There is no 
reason to suppose they were better than the common 
stock, or would have become better. We see them even 
among us with all the characteristics of anger, envy, hate 
and cruelty, strongly developed and actively exhibited. 
One might as easy make out that it is cruel to allow a 
wicked and depraved race to continue to exist, as it 
would be to blot them out of existence altogether. 

Leaving alone for the present God's share in that 
transaction we may remark that the war was in keeping 
with the times and in harmony with the law of nations. 
The Israelites did as they expected to be done by in 
turn if they should become the weaker party, and as they 
actually were done by, for they were in their turn dis- 
possessed or exterminated more effectually than the 
Canaanites. And it is tolera' ly certain that the Canaan- 
ites had got possession in the same way, that is by kill- 
ing or driving away those that were there before them, 
As far as justice is concerned there is little to be said in 
general, and probably nobody thought of hnding fault 
on that score, though of course each in turn was sorry 
to be the weaker party. 

But it is understood that this was not a mere human 
transaction. Moses and the Israelites had a divine com- 
mission to go and destroy the Canaanites because they 
had become too wicked to be tolerated. Probably the 
Almighty has a right to pronounce sentence of death as 
much as a human court of justice, and surely Ire must be 
as able to judge of the desert. The crimes of the Ca- 
naanites are explained as faras language will tolerate their 
description, and the Israelites were warned that unless 
they did better, they would fare no better. The ex- 
hortations, warnings and instructions to the Israelites 



28 Christianity and Our Times. 

and this occasion as we have It in the books of Moses can 
only be accounted for on the presumption that God was 
the moving and controlling cause, how different from the 
vain-glorious, proud, presumptuous exhibition of national 
vanity common in such cases, even down to our day. 
God explained to them that he meant no favoritism and 
their subsequent history proved it. Some may find 
fault with the Almighty for this work and for giving the 
Israelites the commission of performing it, but he has 
taken upon himself the responsibility, as it is repeatedly 
avowed in the Scriptures, and will no doubt answer for 
it. And according to the Bible this is by no means the 
only war God will answer for in the same sense, not as 
the primary cause, for that is the wickedness of men, 
but as the overruling cause. To his judgment is as- 
cribed not only war, but pestilence, famine and other 
evils; and indeed, so it is very generally looked upon, 
even nowadays. Take the words of the immortal Lin- 
coln, " If God will that it continue until all the wealth 
piled by the bondsmen's two hundred and fifty years of 
unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of 
blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn 
with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so 
still it must be said, that the judgments of the Lord are 
true and righteous altogether." 

A word should be said about the imprecatory Psalms 
in dealing with the subject of this chapter, but it will be 
needful to say but little after what has been said in the 
foregoing. These Psalms are not in harmony with some 
of the sentiment of this age, but they are in harmony 
with the sentiment of the Bible throughout, for God is 
everywhere set before us " a God of judgment." The 
inspired utterance of these Psalms are not to be taken as 



Moral Difficulties in the Old Testament. 29 
the expression of personal and selfish hate and vindic- 
tiveness. It is the indignation of God's spirit, and the 
curses of God against the enemies of righteousness. 
They are to be compared with the woes of Christ against 
the unrighteous, and his curses upon the wicked at the 
day of judgment. 

That curses and maledictions against the wicked and 
their wickedness should be inconsistent with truth and 
righteousness, can only be maintained on the ground that 
there are really no such things as wickedness or wicked 
persons. The supposition in this case would be, that 
what is called by these hard names is really nothing but 
abberations of mind and heart that a little patience and 
forbearance will cure. But the Bible does not take so 
favorable a view of the case; it considers the wickedness 
of men very willful and deeply rooted, and the wicked 
powerful enough in their wickedness to resist even di- 
vine love and goodness and in spite of all that can be 
done, go on making devils of themselves, and worthy of 
nothing but curses. 

But it is suggested that the curses should be directed 
against wickedness rather than against the wicked be- 
cause Christ, it is said, loves sinners although he hates 
their sins. But the distinction here is carried too far, 
there is no sin apart from the sinner. Sin is only sin 
because it is the voluntary acts of responsible beings. 
What we hate is the wicked will that is behind the acts. 
The same acts by irresponsible persons, or by animals, 
would arouse in us no moral indignation. Therefore as 
far as we hate sin we blame the sinner. The God both 
of the Old and New Testament loves sinners, and calls * 
upon them "Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die." But 
when the possibilities of good, the hope of repentance is 



30 Christianity and Our Times. 

gone, there is no longer any love for the sinner. Christ 
does not pretend to love sinners in the last day, when he 
shall say to them, " Depart from me ye cursed." 

As a summary of the morality of the Israelites as 
set before us in the Old Testament, it is clearly seen 
that they held as firmly as we, all the principles of right- 
eousness and morality, and that the application of these 
principles in many instances was imperfect. The perfect 
application of these principles would result in a perfect 
life and character. It need not be said that the applica- 
tion is still imperfect. Do we find fault with the Al- 
mighty for bearing with the weaknesses and imperfec- 
tions of the past, we might as well find the same fault 
now. There is no other alternative; either God must 
bear with a fallen race, or else exterminate them. As 
free moral agents, their volitions cannot be forced, nor 
improvement imposed on them with a high hand. If it 
were otherwise, we should not hear so much in the Bible 
about the patience and long-sufifering of an omnipotent 
ruler. 



CHAPTER III. 
RELATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT TO THE NEW. 

'* Had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me, but if ye believe 
not his writings how shall ye believe my words?'* — Christ. 

The purpose of the New Testament is not to teach 
a new religion that was not taught in the Old, neither is 
it an amendment to the religion of the Old Testament 
but rather the complement of it. The object is above 
all to establish the fact, that the incarnate Son of God, 
the promised Messias, the Revealer of the Father had 
actually appeared in the world and that the redemption 
promised by God from the beginning had been accom- 
plished. The main purpose in the life of Christ was to 
establish his claim as the Messias; to this end he wrought 
miracles " if he had not done the works which no one 
else had done — they — the Jews — would not have sinned 
in rejecting him." He warns the people from the very 
beginning of his ministry that " He had not come to de- 
stroy the law or the prophets — no — not a jot or tittle." If 
such thoughts had entered their minds because he taught 
as one having authority, he tells them that they are mis- 
taken. He used his authority to expound the law, not 
to controvert it. To accomplish the will of the Father 
as " the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the 
world, this was his supreme office, that the Son of 
God should indeed, while on earth, occupy his time in 



32 Christianity and Our Times. 

expounding the law and the prophets is what we might 
expect, and there was need of it. The state of the Jew- 
ish church was very much like that of the Christian be- 
fore the Reformation. The scribes had made vain the 
commandments of God because of their tradition, as the 
popes and priests had at the time of Luther. There 
was as much need of a reformer. But as Luther did not 
invent the doctrine of justification by faith, or as Wesley 
in his time did not plan the doctrines of regeneration 
and sanctification, but established them according to the 
teaching of the Bible, and renewed their claims upon the 
consciences of men; so Christ in his days did not origi- 
nate the commandments of love to God and man, for 
they are both contained in the Old Testament Scriptures; 
Christ showed their importance as a summary of all our 
duties towards God and men. 

The relation of the Old Testament to the New is not 
the contrast of law founded on justice, set over against a 
gospel founded on mercy. The Old Testament is not 
the revelation of a God of righteousness particularly, 
and the New that of a God of love especially. Love and 
righteousness, justice and mercy are equally prominent 
in their due proportion both in the Old and New Testa- 
ments. The New Testament is a continuation of the un- 
folding of God's law and character as begun in the Old, a 
systematic unfolding along all the lines of law and charac- 
ter. Yet it is a favorite idea that the Old Testament 
reveals God in a different light from the New. Do we 
ask if God changed between the time of Moses and 
Christ, the answer would not be an open denial of the 
passage that God is " without variableness or shadow of 
turning," "to-day, yesterday and forever the same." 
Yet popular notions in conformity with popular teaching 



Relation of the Old Testament to the New. 33 

represent the idea, that if God has not actually changed 
since the time of the Old Testament, he has yet wonder- 
fully improved in the way of leniency and forbearance. 
But denying the possibility of any improvement in the 
Eternally Perfect it is yet left to account for the popular 
notion. It is accounted for by the fact that the sterner 
side of the New Testament is generally ignored, and the 
other side exclusively insisted upon. There is in the 
New Testament increased light on God's character in all 
its attributes, not only those of love and mercy but those 
of justice and holiness as well. The life and death of Christ 
does not illustrate the love of God more fully than it 
does his justice. God gave his only begotten Son be- 
cause he loved the world well enough to do it, but he 
required so great a sacrifice to atone for the sin that had 
outraged justice, that he might establish a true basis for 
pardon and justification. The death of Christ is every- 
where represented as the strict fulfillment of the Old 
Testament type in " sacrifices to atone for sin;" it does 
not therefore bring in any new principle of love and for- 
giveness, but is the enforcement of the Old which had 
ruled from the beginning. 

God represents himself as a father in the Old Testa- 
ment as well as in the New. " Art not thou our father?" 
"As a father pitied his children." The popular idea 
about the " fatherhood of God and brotherhood of men" 
is not strictly Scriptural. God represents himself as 
having a father's heart and feeling toward all, but only 
those are said to be his children who are " born again" 
by his spirit. And only those that are thus born con- 
stitute in^ the true sense a brotherhood, although they 
may have a brother's feeling toward others, and try to 
win them. Christ repudiates the right of those that are 



34 Christianity and Our Times. 

not his followers to call God their father. He says " the 
father ye are of is the devil." Otherwise they are called 
the children of this world. They must first be born into 
God's family before they are his children. 

As for the revelation of God's loving kindness and 
tenderness, there are as noble passages in the Old as in 
the New Testament. The twenty-third Psalm may be 
placed beside the tenth chapter of John, and compari- 
sons equally favorable may be found throughout both 
parts. As for judgment and cursing, the scene of the 
last judgment as pictured by Christ, together with many 
passages by Christ or John, surpasses in terrible im- 
pressiveness anything in the Old Testament. If God's 
language to man is harsh in any age or toward any peo- 
ple, it is because there is peculiar occasion. We cannot 
use tenderness, and pronounce blessings, unless circum- 
stances justify it, unless there is occasion for it. " Be- 
hold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God" 
equally in the Old Testament and the New. 

The conditions of salvation were the same in the 
Old Testament- time as now. As God is the same and 
our relation to him the same, so it is impossible that 
there should be any distinction. God has no preferences 
and can be no respecter of persons. If God shows a 
preference like that of the selection of Israel to be his 
peculiar people, it is because the whole world is best 
served by such arrangement, even as the promise to 
Abraham was that " in his seed should all the nations of 
the earth be blessed." St. Paul tells us that the old 
world was saved by faith as much as the new, it was a 
faith that showed itself by " works" and no other faith 
saves now. The need of an atonement for sin was 
taught in the Old Testament; sacrifices were part of the 



Relation of the Old Testament to the New. 35 

system, and were only abolished as their types and 
prophesies were fulfilled in Christ. 

As God and our relation to him is the same in all 
ages, so the operation of his spirit is the same. It is no 
more the dispensation of the Spirit now than before 
Christ. The mercy and grace of God have always been 
dispensed whenever there have been hearts open to re- 
ceive. It may appear in the words of Christ, that while 
he walked on earth tine spirit was concentered upon 
him, and that this implied a limitation for the time being; 
but the reference is plainly to conditions, and the limita- 
tion, as always, that imposed by sin and unbelief. The 
spirit of God was " striving" with the early antedeluvians. 
Throughout the Old Testament we find the operation of 
God's spirit suggested in various ways, both in the con- 
version of men, and in the bestowal of gifts, even the 
very highest, as the gift of prophecy and that of infallible 
inspiration in recording the revelation of God's will. 
And the results produced were as grand and significant 
in respect to character and spiritual life as nowadays. 
We can find no better words in which to express our 
spiritual experience than those of David and other Old 
Testament saints. And they realized their utter de- 
pendence upon the spirit of God in the work of con- 
verting and sanctifying: "Create in me a clean heart, 
O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me 
not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy 
Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salva- 
tion and uphold me with thy free spirit." Christ prom- 
ised a special outpouring of God's spirit on the day of 
Pentecost; there have been special outpourings both be- 
fore that time and since, and even now we pray for a 
fresh outpouring of God's spirit. Nor was the Old Tes- 



36 Christianity and Our Times. 

taihent church lacking in that aggressive zeal which 
characterized the Christian church. Provision was 
made in their system for proselytes of other nations. 
The Jewish missionary work among the Gentiles in the 
centuries preceding Christ, was as successful as any sim- 
ilar work has been. The Jews had their synagogues 
in the towns and cities of every nation, and had made 
multitudes of converts. Here was the ground for the 
rapid spread of Christianity. Christian missionary work 
generally started from the synagogue, and was very suc- 
cessful among the Gentile proselytes. So it may be 
said in more than one sense, that the Jews paved the 
way for the progress of Christianity. 

Some of the superficial teaching of this and former 
times have produced the impression on the minds of 
many, that the Old Testament religion was " formalism." 
It was perverted to formalism, but not more so than 
Christianity in this and other ages. The Jews like the 
Christians were very apt to retain the form and ignore 
the spirit of their religion. When Christ came, he 
taught them that the law and commandments must be 
applied to the thoughts and intents of the heart, as well 
as to outward performance. In some respects he taught 
that the law of civil duties prescribed by Moses should 
not suffice for his disciples. As, for instance, civil au- 
thorities might use an oath for confirmation if additional 
guarantee of truthfulness was thereby secured, but among 
his followers it should be taken for granted, that the 
standard of truthfulness was so high that swearing to the 
truthfulness of one's words should be out of question. 
In the Sermon on the Mount the future separation of 
church and state is taken for granted, and we have to 
bear in mind that it was spoken expressly " to his disci- 



Relation of the Old Testament to the New. 37 

pies." The church and state was not now to be identical 
as hitherto in the Jewish nation. Henceforth, the, 
church need to have to do with none but such as volun- 
tarily take upon themselves the obligation. Therefore, 
the standard could be heightened and the requirements 
strengthened. "Ye have heard it hath been said, an 
eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto 
you," — he does not say that this is not good as a principle 
of even justice, punishment in proportion to the guilt, he 
does not find fault with it properly applied, but he 
teaches his disciples, his church, that they must go far- 
ther than the mere doing of justice,, They must "love 
mercy and walk humbly with their God." They must 
try to win the erring, reconcile an enemy and raise the 
fallen. The Old Testament is not indeed lacking in ex- 
hortations to this effect, even to the extent of doing 
good to an enemy, but this side of religion was appar- 
ently little cultivated at the time of Christ. A full and 
equable development of character is rare now as then. 
Christ emphasized every side of the religious life and 
strengthened the requirements. In applying law and 
judgment to the thoughts and intents of the heart, and 
in pronouncing punishment upon sins of omission, he 
strengthened the principle of justice as much as that of 
love. All that was implied in the law was applied by 
Christ, not as a new discovery,for the prophets had done 
so before, but with a new emphasis. He brought a 
stronger light to bear upon every subject, but the sub- 
ject, itself, was not new. "The new commandment" 
was yet "the old which they had from the beginning." 
How justice may be blended with mercy; and love, pa- 
tience and forbearance be made to promote righteous- 
ness rather than the contrary, is not a matter of cast-iron 



38 Christianity and Our Times. 

rules, but of careful consideration and application of 
thought to each particular case. God demands a sanc- 
tified and alert intelligence as well as correct conduct. 

The difference between the law of duty or com- 
mandments and the law of love as pointed out by Christ, 
is further explained by St. Paul in his Epistles. Here 
again it is often supposed that a contradiction is meant 
when only an explanation is intended. St. Paul uses 
such expressions as " being free from the law," " not un- 
der the law," etc.; this, it is believed, implies antago- 
nism between the law and the gospel. Paul foresees that 
this misunderstanding may arise, for he corrects it by 
saying; "Do we then make void the law through faith? 
God forbid; yea, we establish the law." This he does 
by teaching how the principle of law must become part 
of our own heart and soul, so that we shall no longer 
need to be reminded by the written commandment. 
When the spirit of the law is ottr spirit then we shall not 
need the letter. If the kingdom of God is within us, as 
taught by Christ, then we shall not need the rule of out- 
ward restraint. We know that this must come to pass 
before heaven can be realized. A heaven that would 
stand in need of the ten commandments and the Sermon 
on the Mount could not be much of a heaven. Law is 
a reflection on those for whom it is written, for it pre- 
supposes a disposition to transgress. This disposition 
must be subdued, so that .we are not only free from the 
condemnation of the law, this indeed is implied, but free 
from the restraint of the law because in perfect accord 
with it. This is what St. Paul urges us on to, for the 
accord is not at once perfect, even in true Christians, 
except as to the will. Imperfections in our moral na- 
ture and our judgment will involve us in temptations, 



Rklaiiu.n ui- lilt: Old iEbiAMLM lu the New. 39 

and make necessary the law with its instructions, ex- 
hortations and warnings. But the principle of sympathy 
and natural accord must be in the heart of every Chris- 
tian, and it must be a growing principle. The child who 
has need of having the rod always suspended over him, 
cannot be much in sympathy with the father; and the 
Christian who constantly needs the "shall" or "shall 
not" of the law, is not much of a Christian, there should 
be the spirit of sympathy that cried " Abba Father " and 
delights in his law. We should come into that perfect 
sympathy with the law-giver that we have one will with 
him, when this is the case then there is no more need of 
him making his will law for us. We could not imagine 
a case where one should feel called upon to proclaim a 
law to another if they are both in perfect accord. When 
we are in perfect harmony with God, then God has no 
law for us, we are a law unto ourselves. This is that 
perfect liberty of Christ, which knows no restraint, be- 
cause it knows no disposition to transgress. To be free 
from the law is not therefore to have a license through 
the Gospel to disobey it, but to have enough of the 
Spirit of God to obey it without compulsion. Such were 
the Old Testament saints who could say: " How love I 
thy law, it is my meditation all the day. How sweet 
are thy words to my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to 
my mouth. I will delight myself in thy statutes. I 
have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies." This is 
the true spirit of the child, than which there is nothing 
higher. In the truest and best sense, these Old Testa- 
ment saints were free from the law as much as those of 
to-day. They were under the law of ordinances and 
sacrifices pointing to Christ, references to this as 3" law 
should not be confounded with the moral or general law, 



40 Christianity and Our Times. 

the expression of God's perfect will, which none should 
wish to be free from in any other sense than that of being 
in perfect accord with it. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CHRIST AND THE BIBLE. 

" In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments 

of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the 

tradition of men. * * * And he said unto them, full well ye 

reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your 

own tradition. * * * Making the word of God of 

none effect through your tradition." — Christ. 

Christ was the orthodox teacher of his days. The 
Pharisees had departed from the plain text of the 
Scriptures, while professing to believe them, ^ey made 
them void through their theories of lawless interpreta- 
tion. They did not really love the Scriptures, for these 
did not favor their personal or national pride and vanity; 
they rather loved the Talmud and apocryphal writings. 
What a Jewish Bible would have been without inspira- 
tion may be gathered from this Talmud, held in so high 
veneration among the Jews. On the side of Scripture 
we find simplicity, grandeur and humility, on the other 
hand we find extravagance, foolishness and pride, all to 
a degree of absurdity. 

Christ rebuked them with bitter irony, saying, full 
well ye reject the commandments of God that ye may 
keep your tradition. Throughout his ministry Christ 
treated the Scriptures precisely as an orthodox teacher 
of Christianity would nowadays. From the beginning 
he warns them that he has not come to destroy the law 



42 Christianity and Our Times. 

and the prophets, that he who teaches contrary even to 
the least of the commandments shall suffer loss. To the 
Scriptures he refers every question and settles every 
difficulty. Does someone ask him what to do to be 
saved, the answer is "What is written —how readest 
thou?" He does not profess to have any new or easier 
way of salvation. Repentance and reformation, with 
faith in sacrifices and an atonement for sin was the old 
way, and he came to emphasize and perfect this plan. 
Some, nowadays, profess great love and reverence for 
Christ, while treating the Old Testament Scriptures 
with great irreverence, he utterly rejects their hypocriti- 
cal advances, and tells them " If ye believe not the writ- 
ings of Moses, how shall ye believe my words?" Is a 
difficult theological question propounded, as, for instance, 
" Whose son is Christ," to the Scriptures alone and their 
authority he refers it, never to the church or reason or 
any human authority. If a Scripture statement seem 
difficult of acceptance, as, for instance, the quotation, " I 
have said ye are gods." He does not allow it to be 
slurred over or ruled out, he reminds them that it is 
Scripture and as such it cannot be broken. When he is 
questioned by the Sadducees in regard to the soul's im- 
mortality, he tells them that the cause of their error is 
that " they know not the Scriptures, nor the power of 
God." He then proceeds to establish the doctrine of 
the soul's immortality by the Old Testament Scriptures; 
it is not generally supposed that much is said there on 
this subject, and he might in this case, if ever have had 
occasion to fall back on church authority, philosophy or 
his own personal knowledge, but he evidently considered 
a passage from Scripture of more weight than all else, for 
by Scripture he confounds the Sadducees and rebukes 



Christ and the Bible. 43 

their unbelief. When the rich man in hell desired that 
a special communication or revelation in regard to the 
future state should be sent to his five brethren, he is told 
that they have Moses and the prophets " let them hear 
them." The soul in torment ventures the assertion that 
some supernatural manifestation from the spirit world 
would be more convincing, but the answer is definite, 
that " if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither 
will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead." 
Moses and the prophets, he asserts, are of more au- 
thority than spiritualistic mediums and supernatural 
manifestations. 

Liberals would have found in Christ an excellent sub- 
ject for the charge of " Bibleolotry " had he lived in our 
days. Scripture was his only weapon both of defense and 
attack. Did the devil tempt him with evil suggestions, 
with this he repels the tempter. The devil was aware 
of Christ's regard for the Scriptures as the Word of God 
and the final authority in all matters of dispute. He 
takes advantage of this knowledge and quotes Scripture 
to prove the innocent nature of his insinuations. 
Christ lets him know he is right regarding the authority 
of the Scriptures, he himself knows nothing higher, and 
by another " it is written" he confounds the sophistry of 
the wicked one. If Christ had been willing to allow that 
the law of Moses contains errors, he had occasion to say 
so, for Jews and disciples alike suggested the idea, and 
pressed the question upon him; as, for instance, when 
they reminded him that Moses permitted divorces for 
other causes than adultery. Christ does not allow that 
it was an error of Moses, he tells them there was a rea- 
son for it, although from the beginning it was not so, 
neither should it be so any longer among his disciples. 



44 Christianity and Our Times. 

Christ allowed that the Scriptures could be misconstrued 
and misunderstood, but never that they could be broken. 
After his resurrection, the Scriptures are still the reve- 
lation from God by which he enlightens his disciples. 
Beginning with Moses he goes through the books show- 
ing how it behooved Christ to suffer and rise from the 
dead. 

The ingenious ways in which our liberalists get 
round the authority of the Bible by fanciful distinctions 
between the spirit and. the letter, the human element and 
the divine, etc., is entirely foreign to Christ. He insists 
emphatically upon the letter, even down to the jot and 
tittle, and he insists equally upon an unselfish and un- 
prejudiced interpretation of the letter, that will not ex- 
plain away the spirit and intent of the book. This is 
precisely what the liberalists are doing, but it can only 
be done to the extent they wish to do it, by repudiating 
the language or plain text of the Bible. For after all, 
the spirit, the intent or meaning of a book can only be 
known by the letter or language used, aside from it there 
is no spirit, intent or meaning. Their only purpose in 
destroying faith in the letter or text of the Bible, is to 
get rid of its meaning or the spirit of it. 

That Christ's regard for the Scriptures was not a 
matter of accommodation to his age is fully evinced by 
the nature of his quotations and their frequency as well 
as by his character, which was incapable of any duplicity 
and never failed to rebuke sin or error where he found 
it. But it is more fully demonstrated by the fact, that 
his regard for the Scriptures was above that 
of his age, above that of the most conserva- 
tive believers of his times. It was an intense 
conviction of his own, that found expression in fierce 



Christ and the BniLE. 45 

denunciations against those who, while they nominally 
admitted the authority of the Scriptures, yet found means 
to set it aside when it conflicted with their theories and 
speculations, their pride and love of vain-glory. It was 
perhaps the only instance in which Christ gave expression 
to the bitter irony of a soul that is wounded at its deep- 
est, when he rebuked the Pharisees for their duplicity 
and fraud in dealing with the Scriptures, saying, " full 
well ye reject the commandment of God that ye may 
keep your tradition, making the Word of God 
of none effect." The same holy zeal for the Word 
of God and everything that is enjoined in it found ex- 
pression in his cleansing of the temple. "It is written 
my house shall be called a house of prayer but ye have 
made it a den of thieves." And the disciples remem- 
bered that it is written, " the zeal of thine house hath 
consumed me." Again after his resurrection we find 
this indignation breaking forth against his disciples, be- 
cause of their doubt and hesitancy in accepting and be- 
lieving all the Scriptures. " O fools and slow of heart to 
believe all that the prophets have spoken." It is suffi- 
cient to say of the apostles who succeeded Christ in his 
divine work, that their regard for the Scriptures and their 
authority was precisely the same as that of Christ. " But 
what saith the Scriptures " is the final appeal of St. Paul 
in questions of controversy. It was to them, the God- 
breathed Word of God and " the sword of the Spirit." 

The testimony of Christ to the authority of the Old 
Testament Scriptures has a bearing upon those of the 
New Testament which is not to be overlooked. We 
cannot accept some of the teaching of Christ and reject 
other, without repudiating his claims as the Messiah sent 
from God, the only begotten of the Father. We cannot 



46 Christianity and Our Times. 

accept the teaching of Christ as the Truth of God with- 
out accepting all that is involved in it. In the general 
claim of Christ and his teaching, it is involved that the 
record of it must have been kept free from the contami- 
nation of error. The- general claim of Christ and his 
teaching is that a divine overruling providence was con- 
nected with his appearance in this world, his mission, his 
words and work; but it could not have been thus con- 
nected without being extended to the preservation of 
his teaching and doctrine free from error. This teach- 
ing and work was meant for all generations and for all 
ages; it must therefore have been kept in its purity for those 
generations and ages, if omnipotent power and wisdom 
was indeed connected with it from the beginning. We 
cannot, therefore, accept Christ in the sense he claims 
acceptance, without accepting the aforesaid which is in- 
volved in it. 

Christ, explicitly and definitely, gave his testimony 
to the record of God's revelation in the Old Testament, 
and affirmed often and emphatically that it was inti- 
mately and indissolubly connected with his own revela- 
tion, so much so that both were but a connected whole. 
He found no fault with the books admitted to the Old 
Testament canon, nor with the contents of any of them, 
he accepted them fully and wholly without excepting, 
" one jot or tittle." What one would expect that an over- 
ruling Providence would be concerned with the preser- 
vation of an all-important revelation from God to man he 
fully meets and endorses. The testimony of Christ to 
the Scriptures of the Old Testament as a true record of 
God's revelation through the fathers and prophets, must 
be extended to the New Testament Scriptures, they are 
according to Christ, and the claims of all, a connected 



Christ and the Bible. 47 

whole, and the providence of God must have been 
equally concerned with the preservation of both, free 
from errors that would impair their value. 

If we reject this, we must reject the claims and 
teaching of Christ in general, and take our stand on the 
- ground occupied by Unitarians, on this ground there is 
room for accommodations of all sorts. But on the ground 
occupied by believers in Christ's divinity, we are shut 
up to faith in almighty power and wisdom connected 
with what Christ did and said, as well as the correct and 
infallible record of what he did and said. The first 
would have had no value without the latter, and the 
latter could not have failed, consistent with divine power 
and wisdom. 

The Christian, therefore, who accepts Christ as he is 
set before us in the New Testament must assume that the 
record of his works and teaching has been preserved to 
us free from error. What would overthrow tWs assump- 
tion, would overthrow faith in the Christ of the New 
Testament. — Idealized conceptions and counterfeits 
would survive, but with these we are not concerned. 
The question then is whether there is sufficient evidence 
to overthrow this assumption of the believer. Here is 
where the work of the critics come in, have they, or can 
they prove that the record is faulty and unreliable and 
the assumption of the Christian false. — Our aim is not tQ 
"prove Christianity" but to show in some respects what 
it is, and what is implied in an honest acceptance of it. 
As to the critics and their criticism, upon the whole it 
may be said that the general tone and expression is that 
of professionals, out of harmony with the spirit of the 
Bible, playing their trade and making the most of it. 

The authority of the Bible is based on its infallibility 



48 Christianity and Our Times. 

as a record of God's revelation to man. The question is 
not what amount of praise maybe bestowed upon Christ 
and the Bible; what are their excellencies, even their 
glories, all these are trivialities and mere evasions of the 
question. Christianity purports to be something more 
than a mere part of the general revelation through na- 
ture and the conscience. It claims to be a special reve- 
lation from God of the creation of man, and his fall from 
a state of purity; a plan of God for his redemption, in- 
cluding the incarnation, life and death of the Son of God 
sent into the world; a continuance of the same by the 
operation of the spirit of God through the church and 
the Word of God; also the final destiny of man and a 
perfect law for his guidance. It will not do to reduce 
this to a mere system of ethics or to anything else than 
what it is, and put it forward as the " religion of Christ." 
This is not a plea for Christianity but simply for honesty. 
The Bible is the only record of this perfect revela- 
tion from God, and it is involved, as indeed it is claimed, 
both by Christ and the Bible itself, that the record is as 
perfect as the revelation. Any process in dealing with 
the Scriptures that allow of selections and rejections of 
parts or portions, subjects them to the authority of man, 
and is a denial of their claims and the testimony of 
Christ in their behalf. It is not a question of how much 
^elected or rejected, the rejection of a "jot or tittle," or 
teaching contrary even to " the least of the command- 
ments" violates the authority of the Scriptures just as 
much as though the rejection comprised large portions. 
Neither do the motives or professed faith alter the case; 
the chief champion of infidelity in this country was 
answered in his attack on the Bible by certain of the 
liberal school; he rejected their interference contemptu- 



Christ and the Bible. 49 

ously by statin^, that " there was no quarrel between 
them." He was perfectly right, he accepts and rejects 
as suits him, and they do the same; they have no more 
right to find fault with his selections and rejections than 
he has to find fault with theirs. 

The question is not whether some Christ may be 
left us, even if the worst the critics claim for their criti- 
cism be admitted. Christ would always be somebody, a 
historical person truly. Those of Unitarian tendencies 
will rest content with this "historic Christ.'' They will 
argue like this; do we not indeed know tliat Christ as a 
person, sometimes walked this earth, and if we have no 
reliable information as to what he was or what he taught, 
may not this enlightened age make out what he ought to 
have been, and what he ought to have taught; and in 
making it out for ourselves, may we not the more surely 
get a Christ and a gospel that will suit us. This will do 
for human philosophy, but it is not the Christianity of 
Christ and the Bible. 

Others, who are in a state of unrest, do not take it 
so lightly. They hope they will not have essentially to 
alter their position, but they do not know. They are 
watching the critics and are prepared for an emergency. 
They have assumed the attitude of retreat and are wait- 
ing for the signal to fall back. They hope there will at 
least be left them some truth to fall back upon. Of this 
there can be no doubt, even if they have to occupy the 
ground of the unbeliever wholly. But what would be 
left would not be Christianity. Even the attitude they 
have assumed, it need not be said, is entirely foreign to^ 
Christianity and the Bible. In it is assumed a faith 
with assurance, that brings peace and rest; that works 
wonders and wins victories. 



50 Christianity and Our Times. 

The selective process in dealing with the Bible, by 
which in some way or other it is subjected to the thoughts 
and sentiments of men, finds many forms of expression, 
but it all amounts to the same thing. Some have set up 
the test of what is vital compared with what is circum- 
stantial. Of course, according to this test, whatever 
agrees with one is very vital, but what does not agree 
is quite circumstantial and wholly unimportant. Already 
in some quarters, the principal doctrines of Christianity, 
including the divinity of Christ have been disposed of as 
none vital. The Decalogue has been encroached upon and 
some of the commandments are evidently not regarded 
as very vital. Perhaps it will be agreed upon as vital 
that it is — sin to steal. But we would not believe that 
a supernatural revelation, recorded in the Bible, begin- 
ning with the creation and ending with the fmal catas- 
trophe, including the incarnation of the Son of God and 
the tragedy of Calvary, was necessary to teach us this, 
which after all has never been seriously doubted. Christ 
does not allow of the distinction; he tells us that even a 
jot or tittle is vital, and must stand till heaven and earth 
have passed away. 

Nor will it answer any better to tell us that the 
selective process is not meant to exclude any part of 
the Bible, only we must be content with the " life, love 
and righteousness" of the book and insist lightly upon 
the letter. This is the idealized Bible. It is but another 
way of the same process by which the commandments of 
God are made void because of the theories and traditions 
of men. In this light the Bible will be looked upon as 
a series of ghost stories; the stories they would tell us, 
amount to little, but the impression they make is every- 
thing. But when we come down to the facts we find 



Christ and the Bh^le. 51 

that they themselves cannot keep hold of this disembodied 
ghost of a Bible. For after all the Bible is a record of 
plain facts and definite doctrine, and when we have 
sifted their theories, sentiments and opinions we find 
plain opposition to facts recorded and doctrines taught 
in the Bible. This comes out even more distinctly 
among lay-members of those that have become afifected 
with this tendency, they are less sophistical and will tell 
us openly of their non-acceptance of books, portions, or 
doctrines of the Bible. The impression, the leaders, with 
their sophistical, indefinite, roundabout talk make upon 
the minds of laymen is, that the Bible may be subjected 
to personal like or dislike, and this is what it amounts to. 

The selective method of dealing with the Bible is 
destructive of a well balanced system of morality. Men 
are sure to reject what is disagreeable to them, which 
they stand most in need of, and ought to give the more 
heed to. Every age has its own hobby, it would be 
sure to reject what was contrary to its hobby, and suc- 
ceeding ages would know that it had rejected what it 
stood particularly in need of. The religious and socio- 
logical theories that are characteristic of this and of 
every age, hold the same relation to the Bible as a part 
or parts do to the whole, they are all one-sided, insisting 
on some particular phase of thought or sentiment. Our 
present is very marked as a hobby-riding age, it needs 
the whole Bible, which, like a center of gravitation 
keeps the erratic movement of human thoughts and feel- 
ings within due bounds. 

The tendencies of our times have made a broad road 
from orthodoxy to agnosticism, and every section of the 
road is well represented. Unitarianism can hardly be 
called a half-way station, it is too nebulous in its charac- 



1 



52 Christianity and Our Times. 

ter to suggest anything stationary. Those who cut loose 
from implicit faith in the authority of the Bible, may, at 
first, think they will know where to stop, but they find 
the ground shifting and uncertain as problem after prob- 
lem arises, demanding to be met in the same critical 
spirit. The battle soon begins to rage about the super- 
natural, miraculous and spiritual elements of the Bible. 
This is practically the whole of it. It cannot be beHeved 
in intelligently and held firmly unless there is something 
in the human soul that responds to it, unless the soul, 
itself, has been stirred by the forces and influences of the 
supernatural. This something of faith, love and rev- 
erence, is apt to grow weak and feeble as the critical 
spirit asserts itself. No wonder, therefore, that the bat- 
tle is easily decided in favor of further concessions. But 
there is, practically speaking, nothing further to concede, 
the spirit of antagonism to the Bible and faith in it, be- 
comes one of bitterness and rancor, infidel flings and 
sneers are freely resorted to. They exemplify in their 
own experience the evolution which is their hobby, they 
call it the evolution of religion but the proper name for 
it is the evolution of skepticism. 

The effect of this progressive spirit is well exempli- 
fied in the history of Protestant Germany. Christianity 
here was placed side by side with the sciences by the 
authorities who control the theological institutions 
through the state church. It has been looked upon 
equally with the sciences as a subject for original inves- 
tigations and discoveries, a premium was put on " ad- 
vanced thought, "innovations, andnovelties of any sort. 
This has stimulated to unceasing efforts to put forth or- 
iginal views, and invent theories that would gain the in- 
ventor credit for new discoveries. Christianity as a rev- 



Christ and the Bible. 53 

elation from God has been practically lost sight of. To 
the critical professors of theology, Christianity is nothing, 
their speculation about it, is everything. The effect has 
been, that where faith is still retained, it is not that of 
the schools, but the orthodox faith of the Bible. The 
rationalistic leaders can scarcely be said to have a fol- 
lowing, for those that become effected by their skepti- 
cism act consistently, and drop church and religion 
altogether. To the professors and critics there is the 
excitement of controversy and the glamour of notoriety, 
but the poor fellows who gain nothing of this sort, who 
are asked to take the skeleton naked and bare, to them 
it has no attraction. How far the disintegration has ex- 
tended may be gathered from the fact, that although the 
German Lutheran immigrants to this country, and their 
descendants cannot be less than several millions, yet 
German Lutheran church members in this country num-. 
ber only so many hundred thousand. The German 
Rationalists, have not thought it worth the while to build 
churches to perpetuate their faith in this country. They 
have simply joined the great, irreligious mass which con- 
stitute one-half of our population. 

What has Rationalism done for this country. Every 
week and month we have set before us in papers and peri- 
odicals, by writers of rationalistic tendencies, what great 
things could and would and should be done, but what is 
actually accomplished is of a purely negative character. 
What about the old institution called the Unitarian 
church, has not the liberal faith had an opportunity to 
show what it can do in this country. Let us examine 
for a minute the faith of Unitarianism just to see how 
the evolution of skepticism is evolving. Anyone who 
knows what Unitarianism was at its start will mark the 



54 Christianity and Our Times. 

difference. We have before us a pamphlet, issued by a 
Unitarian Publishing House, it tells us about their faith. 
It will of course not fit everyone in their church, for 
nothing definite is required of any one. But having the 
endorsement of the general body, it will undoubtedly 
answer for a general statement. We find according to 
this exposition, that Unitarians believe in a God, he is 
called, " the soul of the universe." This is a convenient 
expression for what may be anything or nothing. But it 
is quite needless to speculate as to the nature of this 
God, for we are told immediately by the author, that he 
is nothing to us nor we to him, we sustain no relation to 
him whatever. Our actions have no reference to him; 
we do not sin against him, and he does not reward or 
punish us. We sin against ourselves and our neighbors, 
and take the consequences. There is no divine provi- 
dence, but only natural law. Prayer may be permitted 
as an accommodation to the weak, if they think it does 
them any good. The author expresses a preference for 
the Old Testament rather than the New; we mention this 
for the benefit of those who think the Old Testament 
must first be left behind in the evolution of skepticism, 
otherwise, the less mention of Christ or the Bible in 
connection with their faith, the better. There is heither 
heaven nor hell, if there is a future world, — and the " if" 
is a big one — it is a mere continuance of the present kind 
of life. The idea of a future world is entertained as a 
hypothesis rather than a fact that ought seriously to ef- 
fect us. As a future world or life fade and grow exceed- 
ingly dim, the present takes on great dimensions. There 
will be evolution everywhere and in everything. The 
book closes with an apocalyptic vision of a terrestrial 
heaven, from which unfortunately we are debarred, for 



Christ and the Bible. 55 

It is a matter of evolution and time. When it does come 
there will be happiness enough to " go round," and peo- 
ple will have two hundred years in which to enjoy it. 

If breadth and liberality is what we want for success, 
Unitarianism ought to have succeeded. Nearly half of 
our population is in a condition that would make them 
eligible for membership, they have sufficient faith and 
respectability to join, and the door we presume is open 
for them, but they do not care even to take the trouble 
of stepping in, not to any great extent. There are two 
conditions demanded of a church or religion for success 
among the masses of rich or poor; one is an all-important 
salvation to be secured, and an easy way of securing it. 
Ritualistic churches throughout the world fulfill both of 
these conditions, and the mass of mankind belong to them. 
The Unitarians fulfill the last of the conditions, the way 
of salvation is easy enough, but unfortunately, they make 
it doubtful whether there is anything either to be saved 
or lost, and mankind at large will not get up an enthusi- 
asm where nothing particularly is involved. To Uni- 
tarians, religion is something to speculate about, rather 
than a thing of certainty and much concern. These 
speculations may lend a little color and interest to their 
social gatherings, whether they go by the name of wor- 
ship or otherwise, but the mass of mankind is not much 
concerned about speculations. The activity of Uni- 
tarians does a great deal to break down faith among the 
masses, but they are not the gainers by it. But few 
members are added to their church by persuasion, their 
principal gains are from orthodox churches, and is 
brought about by the evolution of skepticism. Now 
and then a Congregational minister W'ill "come over" 
and bring his entire congregation along with him. It is 



S6 Christianity and Our Times. 

the natural landing place for those that are drifting. 

It is said that our age has got beyond the old the- 
ology and requires something new, or something else. 
But it is a mistake to suppose that this is a characteristic 
of our age alone. Every age since sin entered the world 
has asked for something else. God's plan of salvation 
as revealed in the Bible has never suited the carnal mind. 
In the days of the apostles, the theology of the Bible 
was " foolishness to the Greeks, and to the Jews a stum- 
bling-block." The Greeks sought wisdom and imagined 
themselves " wise above what was written." If we were 
to wait till the world, the carnal mind in any age, comes 
into sympathy with the theology of the Bible, then this 
might indeed as well be laid aside, for that time has 
never been and will never come. But Christ does not 
ask us to inquire what suits the age or the world, and 
make our theology and preaching to harmonize with it; 
he has determined for us what is truth and theology, and 
asks the world to accept it or take the consequences. 
Those who do accept it, " to them it is the power of God 
unto salvation" as much as ever; to those who do not, it 
is fooHshness and a stumbling-block as in the days of St. 
Paul. 

It is one thing to accommodate ourselves to human 
nature, or the sentiments of an age, and gain adherents 
by so doing, it is another thing to produce spiritual life 
and spiritual results. This was never done except by the 
Word of God and the Spirit of God. Along through the 
ages down to ours, we find the great religious revivals 
and moral reformations associated with unquestioned 
faith in the Scriptures, and reliance upon the power of 
God's spirit. Through the long night of the middle ages 
wherever we find gleams of light, it is associated with 



Christ and the Bible. 57 

the Bible, hid away carefully from the priests, read and 
listened to in secret. Thus the Lollards in England, the 
Hussites in Bohemia, the Valdenses in Italy, and others 
here and there where the Bible in some way had found 
access. Like King Josiah of old, when he heard the 
words of the new found book, rent his clothes, and pro- 
nounced woe upon himself and the people, because they 
had not kept the words of the law, so Martin Luther 
when he found the Bible in Erfurt convent, never doubt- 
ing for a moment that it was the divine, infallible word, 
saw at once the apostacy of Christendom, and set about 
remodeling it after the pattern of the Bible. Tyndall 
smuggling copies of the new printed Bible into England. 
Knox rousing Scotland with the suppressed truth. Cal- 
vin in France and Zwingly in Switzerland, a host of 
heroes and martyrs, finding inspiration and strength 
through their implicit faith in the Scriptures, fighting 
battles against odds that we can now scarcely realize. 
And it has been the same since then, the great revivals 
and reformations with their Wesleys, Edwards and Fin- 
neys have only been produced by men who believed the 
Word of God without doubt or question. 

Whenever faith in the Scriptures as the infallible 
Word of God is shaken, there is an end to the mani- 
festation of spiritual power and life. The form may re- 
main for a while as it often does, but the consciousness 
of loss of power is present, and churches and ministers 
cease to depend on it. Human device takes its place, 
ritualistic or spectacular. Social advantages, entertain- 
ments and so forth, are held out as inducements, and 
some are added to the church by these means. Spiritual 
life and the need of conversion is passed over lightly, 
people are appealed to on lower ground, lower feelings 



sB Christianity and Our Times. 

and motives are allowed to suffice, till at last like the 
Unitarians, they " do not even know that there is a 
Holy Ghost" and ridicule his power in revivals and con- 
versions. Generally, this spiritual declension is accom- 
panied with increased noise and demonstration about the 
"needs of humanity." As failure to produce a "new 
creature" by spiritual regeneration becomes an accepted 
condition^ the mending of " the old man" is attended to 
with clamorous show of zeal. 

Great problems are before this nation and dangers 
threaten — shall we be able to meet them with the wooden 
sword of human speculations held by the trembling hand 
of doubt? Evangelical churches who have lost faith in 
that " two-edged sword of the Spirit, which is the Word 
of God," and do not have the Spirit to wield it, are at a 
disadvantage every way. If they turn to ritualistic prac- 
tices and would fain be satisfied with the " devotional 
spirit" that consists in superstitious homage of priest and 
rites, and perhaps look with envious eyes at the priest 
and would like to be partaker in this homage, so easily 
secured and so gratifying to human vanity, in their feeble 
approaches they are easily outdone by regular ritualistic 
churches. If they turn to worldly devices, and depend 
on accommodating the depraved tastes of the worldling, 
they are equally sure to be beaten by the world, the flesh, 
and the devil. If they turn Unitarian or infidel, and make 
their door as wide and the way as broad as the road to 
destruction, the masses will but despise them and their 
accommodations of which they have already enough. 
" Do ye not, therefore, err because ye know not the 
Scriptures nor the power of God." These two belong 
together " the sword of the Spirit" and "the power of 
God" wherewith to wield it. It is said that men will not 



Christ and the Bible. 59 

nowadays yield to authority, but it is a mistake, they 
never yield to anything else. Even the painted author- 
ity of priest or pope is yielded to readily. The Evan- 
gelicals can only hope to win as they are able to con- 
vince men that they have authority behind them. It is 
always asked " in whose name or by whose power do you 
this." Only as they can manifest the authority will men pay 
attention to them or their message. When the authority 
indeed is manifest there is no need of accommodations 
to the flesh. Men have before this taken up the cross, 
forsaken all, and followed, because they believed they 
had heard a message with authority behind it. With 
the emphasis of Christ " ye do therefore, greatly err" in 
discrediting " the Scriptures and the power of God " your 
only authority. 



CHAPTER V. 

INTERPRETATION AND THE NEW DEPARTURE. 

"What is written in the law; how readest thou?" -'0 fools and 

slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." — Christ. 

The Bible is written in popular language, to be in- 
terpreted by common sense. The meaning must be 
found in the language used, it is not to be supplied by 
our own conceit. The language used is not that of a 
human law book, written on the supposition that the 
reader may be dishonest, and will to the best of his 
ability try to pervert the meaning to suit selfish ends. 
This being the case with a law book, the greatest care 
and skill is used in wording the text, so as to give the 
dishonest reader, the ingenious lawyer, and the preju- 
diced judge or juror no occasion for his designs. The 
Bible is written on the presumption that the reader is 
honest and in reading simply desires to find out the act- 
ual meaning of the book, instead of casting about for 
loopholes to escape the meaning. If a human law book 
that is worded with all the skill and precision modern 
scholarship can command, may yet be perverted and 
misinterpreted to serve selfish ends, we may not wonder 
that the Bible, which is not thus guarded in its expres- 
sions can be perverted, misinterpreted and made to serve 
selfish ends, when in the hands of those that are preju- 
diced, dishonest, and filled with their own conceit. As 



Interpretation and the New Departure. 6i 

the incarnate Word when he dwelt among men, was not 
careful about giving offence to those who were only too 
glad to find offence, so with the written Word, no care 
is taken to prevent occasion for those who seek occasion. 

How impossible it is to disarm prejudice and enforce 
honesty is seen in the easy perversion of even the most 
carefully worded law book in the hand of the most intel- 
ligent interpreter. The constitution of the United States 
is supposed to be a product of the highest ord^er of schol- 
arship; and those whose business it is to interpret it, 
are presumed to be in an eminent sense, men of learning 
and integrity, yet in scarcely a single case do they agree 
about the interpretation of this law. No one will sup- 
pose this is because the law is incapable of a fair under- 
standing, or that it is on account of intellectual incapac- 
ity on the part of the judges. We all know that the 
reason is to be sought for in deep rooted prejudices, 
natural sympathies and some secret, lurking self-interest, 
operating, perhaps, without any consciousness of it. In 
interpreting the Bible the same causes of misinterpreta- 
tion operate. Sometimes this is so evident that there is 
scarcely even a pretence of concealing it. Who, for 
instance, does not at once perceive in the Catholic in- 
terpretation of the Scriptures that lust of power and 
greed of gain has made their interpretations to serve 
these interests. Or who does not perceive in the inter- 
pretation of the Bible by Universalists and Liberals, how 
natural sympathies are entirely consulted, how else come 
they to give more weight to their forced interpretation 
of a doubtful passage than to the plain statements of 
twenty passages. 

It is doubtless true as some assert, that we can 
prove anything or everything by the Bible, but we had 



62 Christianity and Our Times. 

better not. Although we are free, yet we are responsi- 
ble for the use of our freedom. Nothing is easier than 
to impose on ourselves, and do it till we scarcely know 
when we cheat or deceive ourselves. 

How little the writers of the Bible cared to shield 
themselves from adverse criticism by those who were 
not friends, may be seen in many instances. "Answer 
a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own 
conceit" says one proverb, and in the next we read: 
" Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also 
be like unto him. " A plain contradiction, unless one will 
consider that time and circumstances may have something 
to do with the way in which it is best to answer a fool. 
" Bear ye one another's burdens" says St. Paul, and al- 
most immediately after, " for everyone shall bear his own 
burdens." St. Paul could not have forgotten what he 
had already said for the two passages are so near to- 
gether that they may be compassed in a glance. Yet he 
does not stop to explain the seeming contradiction. 
Evidently, in writing, he is alone considering the honest 
unprejudiced reader to whom it will readily occur that in 
spite of the general principle of helpfulness, there are bur- 
dens which it is either just we should bear ourselves, or 
impossible to be relieved from by the help of others. 
This is but in harmony with the general principle of 
Bible writers, who never for the sake of guarding against 
prejudice and dishonesty, go out of their way to make 
explanations which we can make for ourselves if we wish 
things explained. Apparent contradictions may be 
only different views of the same question as illustrated 
in another instance: two different accounts of King Asa 
in Kings and Chronicles agree in ascribing to him the 
3ame good character and beneficent reign, and moreover 



Interpretation and the New Departure. 63 

that he carried out a reformation to a considerable ex- 
tent. One writer, however, remarks that the high places 
were not taken away, the other includes them among 
other matters of reform. This has been magnified into a 
very great difficulty, what is it but two general accounts, 
not pretending to tell all about it. One sees that some- 
thing was done in the way of removing these places, the 
other that something was left undone. Where two wit- 
nesses of good character agree in their general state- 
ments, justice demands that any possible discrepancy 
should be explained on rational ground, rather than 
magnified into an insurmountable difficulty. 

Some subjects and some doctrines are many-sided, 
and any one-sided view of such a doctrine may seem a 
contradiction to another view of the same doctrine 
equally partial. As for instance, salvation by faith or 
by works, set against each other, instead of complement- 
ing each other. The atonement, an exhibition of God's 
love wholly, or God's justice only, instead of both 
equally. Vicarious suffering indeed, the just for the un- 
just; but not a final reckoning on the score of justice. 
A term, or a statement on some subject made or used in 
a general sense, compared with the same term or a like 
statement used in a special or obsolete sense, can be 
made to look like a serious discrepancy. Different views 
of the same question pronounced with reference to dif- 
ferent circumstances may in the same way be made to 
appear like a contradiction. On discrepancies and con- 
tradictions of this sort have been constructed destructive 
theories with reference to dates and authorship of dif- 
ferent books, and various adverse criticism. 

While no care is taken in the Bible to guard against 
dishonesty, care is taken to guard against false impres- 



64 Christianity and Our Times. 

sions on the part of the honest reader. In a human law 
book, the perversion or misunderstanding of a single 
word in a text might alter the whole intent of the law, 
this could scarcely be in the case of the Bible. All the 
principal doctrines are taught not only in one but many 
texts and books, by plain statements illustrated by par- 
ables and history, and enforced by exhortations and 
warnings. There is in this a provision against the fatal 
consequences of accidental errors in the text. If such 
are found, they must be proved in every alleged case, 
and not taken for granted whenever there is something 
that puzzles the understanding, or fails to agree with 
preconceived notions. This is only another way of re- 
pudiating the authority of the Bible, and exalting our 
fancies above it. A textual error cannot, properly 
speaking, be said to be a part of a book, and does not 
inveigh against its character. Nor is any modification 
of our conception, or profession of faith in the infallibility 
of the Bible called for on account of any possible inac- 
curacy in the text. Whatever is involved in this is per- 
fectly understood, and no extra provision is needed for 
that purpose. There is no difficulty involved but what 
may be overcome by the use of the same common sense 
that is required in all the ordinary affairs of life. Critics 
and cavilers can find no case unless they persistingly ig- 
nore this, and refuse to have anything explained or un- 
derstood. Their aim is to magnify difficulties, to break 
down the doctrine of inspiration and" authority, or to 
give it that shape of uncertainty and indefiniteness which 
leave room for their speculations and play for their 
fancies and which relieve them of any obligation as to 
faith and morals. That the difficulty with them is found 
in the doctrines of the Bible rather than in the text is 



Interpretation and the New Departure. 65 

evident, for never so soon have they disproved the in- 
fallibility of the Bible to their own satisfaction, before 
they proceed against the principal doctrines of the faith 
and very soon involve the foundations of Christianity in 
their attack. 

It is needed that attention should be called to the 
difference between religion as a universal fact, and Chris- 
tianity as a special revelation. We have no knowledge 
of Christianity outside of the Bible, but we may have 
religious knowledge without the Bible, as there has never 
been a nation or age without religious ideas and worship. 
Religious knowledge may be acquired by the intuitive 
faculties, conscience, whatever we see of design in crea- 
tion; our observations and experience will instill in us 
religious ideas and notions. Reason may group together 
these various facts, perceive their relations, interpret 
their meaning, and deduce religious and moral systems, 
as pagans have never failed to do. Reason, in all this, is 
not the source of information or knowledge, can originate 
nothing, but can only judge of what is discovered to us. 
What may be understood of religion without the Bible, 
is all comprehended in the Bible; it is the amplification, 
the certainty and the full explanation of what nature 
teaches. The intimations of nature are verified for us in 
the Bible, by direct revelation as a message from God. 
Moreover, the Bible contains a record of religious facts 
of momentous importance which nature could not dis- 
cover to us. The Bible, therefore, is the final authority 
to Christians; when God speaks from the Bible, reason 
hears and understands and cannot go beyond it. Imag- 
ination may go beyond it, or outside of it, there is no 
limit to that faculty. The one who imagines may con- 
sider his imaginations reasonable, but this does not alter 



^^ Christianity and Our Times. 

the fact that they are fancies. Such should not be 
grafted on the Bible or Christianity, as additional facts, 
progressive truths, etc. The Bible and imagination, 
even when dignified by the name of reason, cannot stand 
alongside each other as authorities. 

If the Bible is the word of God it is according to 
the highest reason, and such reason will judge it reason- 
able. Man's reason is not of the highest order, is not 
infallible; as a faculty in man it is hampered and imposed 
upon by passion, prejudice, pride, prevailing sentiments 
and customs, natural sympathies, self-interests in various 
forms; and other infirmities and imperfections that flesh 
is heir to. We may, therefore, not look upon reason as 
a perfect guide in understanding religious truth, even 
when revealed to us, much less as a revealer of truth. 
In order to understand and appreciate truth as revealed 
to us, it is needed that we besides reason, should have a 
spirit in sympathy with truth, as Christ said, " the spirit 
of truth," which is the spirit of Christ. The more man 
is able to rise above his natural infirmities, as mentioned 
of all kinds, the nearer he is allied to God in wisdom 
and virtue, th*e more reliable is his reason and the better 
will he be able to judge of the reasonableness of any- 
thing. Those who have been nearest to God in all ages, 
have always found the least dif^culty about the Bible. 

When one professes Christianity, the presumption 
is that he has found it reasonable; when he disputes its 
reasonableness, he goes back and his' profession; if he 
proceeds to exalt his reason as an authority to which 
revelation must be subjected, he declares himself an un- 
believer; to persist in staying in the church after this 
would make him a dishonest intruder. 

The relation of the church to religious truth is the 



Interpretation and the New Departure. 6^ 

same as that of the individual member. There is no 
moral, intellectual or supernatural element inherent in the 
church that is not possessed by the individual Christian. 
If we multiply one by a thousand ciphers, the result is 
but one; if we multiply finite wisdom with ever so many 
units, the result is but finite wisdom, and this is all that 
the church can bring to bear upon any question. The 
church has only the same sources of information in re- 
gard to religious truth as has the individual, and can not 
make or manufacture truth any more than the individual. 
Her decisions can make nothing true that is not already 
true. She is not, therefore, any more than reason to be 
set up as original authority alongside with the Scriptures. 
She is authority as to her faith and convictions. 

When it is asked by individual Christians, to what 
extent the Spirit of God may be a source of religious 
knowledge aside from the Bible; we observe that the 
very object of the Scriptures is to give a clear and definite 
expression of the mind of the Spirit. But Christianity 
is not merely a comm.unication by the Spirit addressed 
to our feelings and emotions and comprehended by an 
internal experience; it is the record and communication 
of facts connected with the whole scheme of redemption, 
addressed to our understanding and moral sense, and 
comprehended by our reason. These facts are not re- 
vealed to Christians by way of impulses and intuitions 
but by the written record we have of them in the Bible, 
and nowhere else. A Christian may hope for com- 
munion with God through the Spirit, to the end that he 
may be enlightened so as to understand the facts, and 
realize the power of the truth in his own soul. Impulses 
and impressions from evil influences may come even to 
Christians, all such must be tested by the perfect ex- 



68 Christianity and Our Times. 

pression of the mind of the Spirit in the Bible. Other- 
wise we should continually be imposed upon by the spec- 
ulations of Freethinkers and the hallucinations of 
dreamers. Nor does it make our infidelity and faithless- 
ness to the Word of God any better because we are able 
" to pray over it." Nothing is easier than to form our 
selfish wishes and desires into a prayer and supposed 
suggestion of the Spirit and answer them ourselves in the 
affirmative. This is only making our prayer an excuse 
for our self-will. " Believe not every spirit, but try the 
spirits whether they are of God." The spirit that sneers 
at the Bible and tries to undermine faith in its authority 
we may know is not the Spirit of Christ, for his indigna- 
tion was hot against those that did the same in his days. 
The revelation of God's will and plan of salvation in the 
Bible is complete, and when personal, special revelation 
is claimed, it is invariably because the one in the Bible 
does not suit the carnal nature and the inspiration is 
from this source. We are promised the aid of the holy 
Spirit in understanding the Scriptures. " Then opened 
he their understanding that they might understand the 
Scriptures." "We have also a more sure word of proph- 
ecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed." 



It is strange to think of a being living in the en- 
lightened age of the first century, later than Plato or 
Cicero, Alexander or Caeser, a being that has revolu- 
tionized the world, and is worshiped by hundreds of 
millions, as the one perfect in wisdom, love and power, 
and yet of whom absolutely nothing is known except 
what we find within the covers of the New Testament. 
Why was this? It was an age of learning, everyone 



Interpretation and the New Departure. 69 

cither desiring to tell or to hear some new thing. Why 
should not mention of him have been found plentifully 
scattered throughout the literature of the times? Why 
should not pagan, Jew and disciple have vied with each 
other in setting forth his Hfe and reporting his doctrine? 
Why was it reserved for four of his own disciples to do 
alone this work as though they were indeed " chosen 
witnesses." 

We have in our age many attempts to get away 
from the written record of Christ's life and character, 
while yet keeping hold of Christ and a kind of Christian- 
ity. We have vague and indefinite references to Christ 
as the one sufficient fact — aside from the record or 
slightly connected with it. " Holding up Christ alone as 
our creed," an ideal Christ that delivers us from the very 
definite and clear testimony of the true Christ in regard 
to the Scriptures. Christ, a " unique " being, not well 
accounted for. The term " unique " may do very well 
as a step in an argument, showing the character of Christ, 
but it has apparently come to be the stopping-place of 
many who profess to be Christians. But it was not till 
Thomas could say " My Lord and my God," that Christ 
acknowledged him a believer and he pronounced his 
blessing upon those that should thus believe. Again, we 
have " the historic Christ" a seemingly innocent and per- 
haps sometimes well-meant phrase, and yet generally in- 
volving an effort to meet skepticism half way. St. Paul 
spoke in his days of those who preached" another Christ." 
There is many " another Christ" preached in our days. 
In the ordinary sense of the word there is no " historic 
Christ." There is only the Christ of the Bible. No 
doubt the Gospels may be called history, and very good 
history too, but they are distinct and apart from the 



70 Christianity and Our Times. 

world's history, and can not be classed with it. Josephus 
wrote a comprehensive history of the Jewish people, 
covering the period of Christ's life, but Christ, his life, 
work and character is no part of it. Some have deplored 
this, and even tried to make up for the defect, but the 
circumstance has a significance of its own. Mere allu- 
sions to the fact of Christ and Christians by secular 
writers of the first one or two centuries after Christ, may 
be counted upon the fmgers of one hand. This in spite 
of the fact that Christianity had already become a power 
in the Roman Empire, and Christians numerous. Why 
this exclusiveness? It can only be explained .on the 
presumption that a divine Providence overruled every- 
thing connected with his advent, life and death, and that 
there was a purpose and importance involved in this, 
which made it necessary in the divine plan, that the 
record should be kept pure and authentic; this could not 
have been, if his life and teaching had become part of 
the history and literature of the age; there would have 
been much spurious, indefinite and doubtful mixed with 
the true, so much so that every particular person might 
have formed his own particular opinion about Christ and 
his teaching, and perhaps have had reasonable ground. 
The spirit of this age is anxious for a Christ and a gos- 
pel, different from what we have in the New Testament. 
With what avidity would they have seized upon informa- 
tion outside of the Bible. But, alas, for their effort, 
there is not a scrap of information outside of it. Anxious 
as they are, they would not dare to lay hold on anything 
outside the Bible as authentic and trustworthy. Take 
away the written record of the evangelists, and you have 
an empty space, a formless void in the world's history, 
it is only as the spirit of God moved upon the minds of 



Interpretation and the New Departure, ji 

the sacred writers, that a veritable Christ and Gospel was 
preserved for after ages. 

The church is no authority, it has not preserved a 
single fact about Christ. The only tradition of the 
church that is of any value is that of the authenticity of 
the New Testament Scriptures; it corroborates what 
other evidence we have to that effect. Outside the New 
Testament, the church cannot tell us of a single thing 
that Jesus did, nor a single word of what he taught, or 
what he organized. It is wholly dependent on the Bible 
for what it knows and what it believes. Early the church 
began to " give heed to seducing spirits " and "fables;" 
inventions of popes and priests; it quickly changed and 
lost its original form and purpose, so much so that at 
the time of the reformation, no one who knew what the 
church was in the apostolic age, could have discovered 
in the church as it then was, the successor of it. Let it 
be remembered that this transformation had taken place 
although the Scriptures had not been lost, but only put 
aside, ignored and misconstrued. The church was only 
restored to something like its original form and purpose, 
by referring to the Scriptures. Luther and the rest of 
the reformers consulted nothing else in their work of 
reformation. If there had been no written record of 
Christ and his teaching, is it likely that the church by 
this time would have been sure of a single thing about 
it, if indeed it had preserved its name and organization, 
which is doubtful? 

What then is to be said of attempts to introduce a 
Christ and Christianity that makes light of the written 
record — only this, that as a matter of consistency, they 
must apply the selective process to Christ as well as to 
the Scriptures which he so fully endorsed, the Christ of 



72 Christianity and Our Times. 

the Bible, and the Bible itself cannot be separated. 
Having then established the selective process in dealing 
with the Scriptures, they proceed to deal with Christ in 
the same way, leaving out such attributes as offend them, 
and ascribing to him such as please them. In proportion 
as the authority of the Bible as a divine revelation grows 
weak, so the character of Christ, as God manifested in 
the flesh, grows uncertain. Affirmations first lose their 
positive quality, and then dwindle into ill-defined and 
vague terms, reducing Christ to a more or less mys- 
terious person. His "divinity" may well be allowed, 
the dishonesty that professes a form of faith and rules o^ut 
the substance counts for nothing with modern liberals. 
It will be reserved as understood that in a sense every- 
thing is divine, that we may all be called sons of God, 
and that the whole nature is an incarnation. Christ be- 
comes to them really but an ideality projected by their 
own mind. That they can truthfully boast of following 
this their own creation of a Christ is not wonderful, hav- 
ing created him after their own image in their own like- 
ness, they will as a matter of inclination worship him, 
and follow his teaching; in doing so they follow only 
their own mind and their own theories, for they do not 
allow him to teach anything else. According to this 
selective method of making a Bible and creating a Christ, 
each may worship his own image, and follow the teach- 
ing of his own heart. To the worldly, vicious and 
wicked, Christ becomes simply a convenience forgetting 
to heaven without repentance and holiness, the one only 
anxious to pardon their iniquity and enable them to sin 
with impunity. To the sentimentalist, Christ becomes 
merely the sentimental lover of mankind. Respectable, 
society people will make of Christ an acceptable pattern, 



Interpretation and the New Departure. 73 

a highly moral and respectable being, with a halo of 
religious mystery to heighten the interest; and upon the 
whole, when it is asked, who or what is Christ and his 
teaching, the only information we have on the question 
will be lightly consulted; the sentiment of the age, the 
morbid mind of the bookworm, the disordered nerves of 
"society" will give the answer. 

We are in a land of liberty; no one is compelled to 
believe in Christianity, or to profess faith in its religion, 
who in heart is adverse to its doctrines. Anyone is per- 
mitted to believe he can improve on the Christianity of 
Christ, by alterations, additions or exceptions. But as 
a matter of common honesty he has no right to call this 
product of his own mind by the name of Christianity, or 
in any way to stamp it with the authority of its founder. 
If we believe in Christianity, we must believe that Christ 
understood it and was competent to teach it. 

Christ, when he was on earth, was never anxious to 
attach to him those who were constitutionally opposed 
to his doctrines. When the gaping, curious multitude 
thronged about him as would-be followers, although they 
had no heart for his teaching, instead of conciliating 
them, he flung them back with even harsher demands. 
The learned and wise fared no better, " Unless ye eat 
the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood ye have 
no life in you." "This is a hard saying, who can hear 
him?" " Dost thou know, Master, that the Pharisees 
were offended at thy words?" " Let them alone, they 
are blind leaders of the blind." The repelling force of 
the Gospel is as great as the attracting. Christianity is 
not to be imposed on anyone, and the complaint is not 
about " freedom of thought" but lack of consistency. It 
is the dishonest attempt to lead the believer gently, as it 



74 Christianity and Our Times. 

were, step by step, away from faith in the authority of 
the Bible. It is the subtile, insinuating attempt to un- 
dermine faith in Christianity under the guise of friendship 
and a profession, which is apparent in all their action, 
and even goes so far as to break out into rancorious ac- 
cusations and profane sneers, if the church is not at once 
willing to' abandon the Word of God and take up with 
their theories. 



CHAPTER VI. 

INTERPRETATION AND RITUALISM. 

" Do ye not therefore err because ye know not the Scriptures neither the 
power of God?" — Christ. 

The difference between the ritualistic and evangeli- 
cal interpretation of Scripture does not consist in any- 
marked disagreement about the letter of the Bible, but 
in the different interpretation of the spirit of the book. 
They may hold practically the same doctrines, but they 
differ widely in the application of them. The reason for 
this the Scripture itself ascribes to the carnal mind that 
does not comprehend the things of the Spirit of God. 
It tells us that in order to understand and appreciate the 
truths in their spiritual depths, there is needed a spirit in 
sympathy with the truth. The assumption is, that none 
but those who are spiritually minded are likely to realize 
the meaning of truths pertaining to our spiritual relation 
to God. This relation signifies something more than 
what is implied in morality and the expression of piety 
in religious ordinances. It has reference to communion 
with God and the work of God's Spirit in the human 
heart. In order to be impressed with this, a certain at- 
titude towards God is required, either that of the prodi- 
gal returning to his father's house, or that of the accepted 
son at home with his father. At least a spiritual awak- 
ening, or the full development of a spiritual life. This is 



7^ Christianity and Our Times. 

taug^nt in such passages as this; "The natural man re- 
ceived not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are 
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because 
they are spiritually discerned," etc. Christ fully recog- 
nized the utter impossibility of impressing the grossly 
carnal-minded with spiritual facts and doctrines, such he 
found among the learned, the cultured, the priests, as 
well as among the ignorant multitude. He did not even 
care to attempt to explain to them the spiritual signifi- 
cance of his parables and metaphors, because in them 
was fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, " Hearing ye shall 
hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, 
and shall not perceive: for this people's heart is waxed 
gross," etc. Even his disciples were in the beginning so 
dull of apprehension that they often provoked his right- 
eous indignation. On one occasion he said to them " be- 
ware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and 
they reasoned among themselves, saying, it is because 
we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus perceived, 
he said unto them, O ye of little faith, how is it that ye 
do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning 
bread." In like manner Christ said, " Except ye eat the 
flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have no 
life in you." " Except a man be born of water and the 
Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God." The Ritu- 
alist, in the grossness of his carnal apprehension, conse- 
crates a wafer and believes he is in very fact eating the 
flesh of Christ; he consecrates a little water and believes 
it has changed him all over. " How is it that ye do not 
understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread 
when I said. Except, etc.; verily in them is fulfilled the 
prophecy of Esaiah as much as in those of old." 

It is involved in the giving of a revelation from God 



Interpretation and Ritualism. tj 

that it should be comprehended, but it is not involved 
that the comprehension should be by miraculous endow- 
ment; ^he supposition is rather that it must be by the 
faculties of judgment and reason given us for that pur- 
pose, coupled with that spirit of sympathy, without which 
no book or communication is well understood. These 
do not insure infallibility, whether exercised by a pope 
or anyone else; they insure a degree of correctness, cor- 
responding to the degree of intelligence and spiritual 
insight on the part of the reader. When the pope claims 
for himself the gift of God's spirit to enable him to un- 
derstand the Scriptures, he claims only what God has 
promised to all his children for the same purpose. If 
the pope makes his claim on the ground of character and 
spiritual sonship, his claim, if he is a child of God, is as 
good as any other child of God; if he claims it on the 
ground of office, it is a carnal apprehension of spiritual 
truth. The promise of the holy Spirit is "to all those 
that obey him " and " there is no respect of persons with 
God." Office, title and dress does not count with God, 
and will not enable one to work the miracle of infallibly 
comprehending the Bible. The difficulty is not in get- 
ting at its meaning as though it were a mystery; the 
difficulty on the part of priests and popes as well as lay- 
men, is to produce a heart and mind open to the truth. 
We believe that the holy Spirit given to all the chil- 
dren of God does make them less fallible and faulty ac- 
cording to the measure in which they receive it. But 
neither the promise of God nor any experience would 
justify us in claiming absolute infallibility; if this were 
the case, then all Christians would be infallible, for they 
all have the gift of God's Spirit, if they are indeed his 
children. But anyone who undertakes to interpret the 



78 Christianity and Our Times. 

Scriptures, even if he be not a pope, does claim some- 
thing akin to infallibility, he claims that he is right; if he 
is honest he cannot claim anything less for his interpre- 
tation. But in claiming he is right he does not ask any- 
one to take his word for it, he allows that his assertion 
of being right may be brought to the test; and the test 
in this case is the Word of God, as read and understood 
by others, who as men of intelligence and children of 
God, have an equal right to judge. The difference there- 
fore in the claim of being infallible and the claim of being 
simply right, is, that the latter does not persevere in his 
claim, unless it can stand the test of the Word of God 
and the judgment of honest men; but a claim to infalli- 
bility demands that the interpretation shall be taken for 
granted to be right, and deny to others the right to test 
it, or examine it critically. If an interpretation be left 
open to criticism and future review, a wrong impression 
may be corrected, but if it is established by infallibility, 
it remains established whether right or wrong. 

In the Catholic Church, the miraculous endowment 
claimed by the head of the church assumes that shape of 
mechanical appliance characteristic of ritualistic churches, 
which serve as a substitute for spiritual operations. He 
claims the endowment as a miraculous gift to work a 
miracle of infallibility, not merely as a power to en- 
lighten his understanding and bring him into sympathy 
with truth; he claims it on the ground of office and in 
his capacity as official, rather than on the ground of 
spiritual sonship and holy aspirations. Catholics are 
bound to, and do believe, that a wicked pope would have 
this supernatural endowment equally with one who had 
some ground in character to claim a degree of the 
power. The work of interpretation is that of an office. 



Interpretation and Ritualism. 79 

and the process a mechanical certainty. A perplexing 
question is brought to this office, run through the pro- 
cess and comes out infallibly settled. Questions not 
only in theology, but in science and politics, used to be 
settled in the same infallible way. Questions in astro- 
nomy and other sciences were brought to the pope, run 
through the process, and declared infallibly settled. But 
science became active, and proved that the process was 
a blunder, and the result anything but infallible. In the 
presence of certain facts, by which the result could be 
tested, the infallible process was not a success, and was 
therefore abandoned, except in theology, where demon- 
stration is not obtainable. 

It would be well for Christiendom if no other or 
worse error existed than those due to want of infallibil- 
ity on the part of men in interpreting the Scriptures. It 
is sufficient that the laws of God are infallible, even as 
the laws of nature; with a sure basis for our reasoning, 
the exercise of this with the rest of our faculities will in- 
sure satisfactory results. It were better that the results 
should be in a slight measure faulty than that man should 
be reduced to an automaton, simply to be worked by 
God as a mechanical certainty. The greatest cause of 
error is want of apprehension of, or sympathy with truth. 
Eccentric or undisciplined minds have at times started 
errors that have found considerable acceptance. But the 
worst of all errors are due to mercenary motives. To fill 
the coffers of church and ecclesiastics, to establish them 
in power and keep the masses in subjection, interpreta- 
tions have been put upon the Word of God that anyone 
may pronounce infallibly to be the work of "cunning 
craftiness." 

Master minds of intelligence are doubtless needed 



8o Christianity and Our Times. 

for the heavy work of systematizing truths and harmon- 
izing doctrines, but otherwise, in the words of Christ, it 
is often ** revealed to babes what is hidden from the 
wise and prudent." Ecclesiastics in high authority are 
apt to have their particular party and interests to defend, 
and this is apt to blind their vision, and prejudice their 
minds. The humble child of God, who comes to the 
Bible with no other desire than that of knowing his 
Father's will, has in this singleness of aim a great ad- 
vantage in realizing and appreciating the truth. There 
is therefore no need of taking second-handed what one 
can find in its original purity in the Word of God. But 
the position of middlemen is profitable in religion as 
well as in trade and politics. Popes and priests have 
established themselves as such middlemen. They are 
like the smart politician, who is never weary of assuring 
his constituents that their interests are safe in his hands, 
and that all what they have to do is to put in their 
vote and pay their taxes; or they might be likened to 
the dishonest middleman in trade, who not only demands 
a large percentage of profit, but falsifies his wares and 
cheats his customers; thus popes and priests not only 
levy heavy tribute, but falsify the doctrines to suit their 
selfish purposes, and tell their dupes that it is reserved 
for them alone to understand the Word of God, that 
they may keep the knowledge of their knavery from the 
common people. 

The difference between the evangelical and ritual- 
istic interpretation of the Scriptures, is, as we have seen, 
not a mere disagreement about the meaning of passages, 
it is the difference between the carnal and the spiritual 
interpretation of Christianity as a whole. As apprehen- 



Interpretation and Ritualism. 8i 

sion of the spiritual element in religion grows weak and 
feeble, ceremonials are multiplied, and the stress laid 
upon them magnified; as was seen in the Jewish church 
up to the time of Christ; in the development of the 
Romish system, after the decadence of primitive Chris- 
tianity, and as seen at present among Ritualists of the 
Anglican communion. The fact q{ the Holy Spirit and 
his work in the redemption of men, as plainly taught in 
the Scriptures, could not be denied. They symbolize 
this work in their ceremonials, which are so many at- 
tempts to account for and manifest what they have failed 
to realize by personal experience or spiritual apprehen- 
sion. 

The fundamental doctrine of the church is that of 
regeneration, the Holy Spirit taking possession of a 
human soul, infusing into it his own life, and transform- 
ing it into the likeness of God. By virtue of this " con- 
version " or "new birth" a person is admitted into fel- 
lowship with the church. So teach both the Ritual- 
ists and the Evangelicals. But here at the very founda- 
tion of Christianity we mark the difference between the 
carnal and spiritual interpretation. The Ritualists, find- 
ing it necessary to account for, and give expression, to 
the spiritual doctrine of regeneration in some way, -do 
so by making the symbol of regeneration equivalent to 
the fact of regeneration. This symbol is baptism. In 
the primitive church, when a person professed his faith 
in Christ, and it was ascertained that his faith had pro- 
duced repentance and conversion, or regeneration, then 
he was taken into the church, having the rite of baptism 
administered to him as a token of the regeneration sup- 
posed to have taken place. In ritualistic churches, in- 
stead of baptism being administered as a token of a re- 



82 Christianity and Our Times. 

generation already brought about by repentance and 
faith, it is administered to produce regeneration. Not 
that it is supposed that the sprinkling of water alone pro- 
duces this change, but it is believed that when baptism 
is administered by the priest in due order — great stress 
is laid on this — then the Holy Spirit will be present and 
regenerate the infant qr adult, as the case may be. Ac- 
cording to their faith, a tremendous change has taken 
place in the baptized person; before baptism he was 
carnal and a child of the devil; now he is spiritual and a 
child of God. That no such change has ever been wit- 
nessed actually to take place by the mere administration 
of this rite, either in infants or adults, is not apparently 
their business. If it is not baptism, then they do not 
know what it is. According to their own way of putting 
it, to baptize a person is to make him a Christian, and he 
is made a Christian by being baptized. Their statement 
of the case reflects severely upon St. Paul, for he tells us 
in one of his Epistles, that he baptized but a few, con- 
sequently made but few Christians. It would even imply 
that the Apostle is a trifle blasphemous, for he actually 
thanks God that he has baptized but a few. Christ fares 
nothing better, for it is said of him expressly, that he did 
not baptize, he left that to his disciples as subordinate 
work. 

Regeneration, as has been said, is the qualification 
for .church membership, so admitted to be both by Ri- 
tualists and Evangelicals. When this regeneration is re- 
quired as a fact, manifest by its fruit, then the church 
becomes what it was originally meant to be. When bap- 
tism, either of infants or adults, is made to stand for re- 
generation, it becomes equivalent to the whole popula- 
tion of every kind and character, as we see it in ritual^ 



Interpretation and Ritualism. 83 

istic State Churches, both Catholic and Protestant, where 
everybody are, by virtue of infant baptism, members of 
the church, profane, wicked, worldly of every grade. No 
wonder the Catholics have found it expedient to insti- 
tute an order of Saints in the church, to represent its 
holiness, but according to Bible definition of the Church 
of Christ, all its members are Saints, or else they are in- 
truders. 

In keeping with tlieir system, and the same law of 
carnal interpretation is their doctrine of apostolic suc- 
cession. When the Jews, at the time of Christ, boasted 
of being in the succession by virtue of their descent from 
Abraham, John the Baptist told them that their boast 
was a small matter, God might from the very stones rise 
up children to Abraham. Christ likewise rebuked their 
carnal ideas and lack of spiritual apprehension, when they 
made the same boast before him. He tells them that 
they might be the children of the devil, for all that 
they were children of Abraham according to the flesh. 
He tells them that "the flesh" — the mere carnal, or 
outward, profits nothing, it is "the Spirit that giveth 
life." Still, the Jews persisted in pointing to their long 
genealogies, leading back to the fathers and patriarchs, 
claiming, by virtue of this succession, to be " the only 
true church," for which reason St. Paul in like manner re- 
bukes them. He tells- them that their succession by 
book and numbers is vain; that it is those that have the 
faith of Abraham and the Spirit of the Patriarchs, that 
are their true successors. This was quite incomprehen- 
sible to the ritualistic Jews; they must establish their re- 
lation to the fathers by some outward proof or token. 
So it is with Ritualists of to-day; they count back their 
3UCcession to the apostles by an uninterrupted laying on 



84 Christianity and Our Times. 

of hands, duly numbered and booked down. We tell 
them that their succession is according to ** the flesh" — 
outward circumstance — and **the flesh profited nothing." 
It is those that have the faith and spirit of Christ and the 
apostles that are their true successors. 

But speaking of being in the succession of Christ 
and the apostles in any sense of the word, it is well to 
bear in mind that Christ, and the apostles that were with 
him, in instituting and organizing the church, laying 
down rules and delivering doctrines, had an authority 
and an office, to which no one can succeed. The words 
they spoke, their teaching as preserved in the Scriptures, 
is their successor, and stands as their authority in the 
church for all ages. The whole body of believers, which 
is the church, acts under this authority, and is the active 
agent in making practical application of it in all depart- 
ments of rule and Christian work. Gradually the church 
acquired and discharged this responsibility, even while 
the apostles lived, and were plainly meant to assume the 
whole of it after their death, in harmony with the great 
principle of equality, laid down by Christ, who said: 
"Call no man rabbi, father or master, for one is your 
teacher and master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." 
It is needless to say that this principle does not rule in 
ritualistic churches. The clergy constitutes an oligarchy, 
apart from lay-members, as in the Catholic Church, 
where the pope elects the cardinals, and cardinals in their 
turn elect the pope, and together they elect all who have 
orders in the church. Lay-members have nothing to do 
but submit to them as teachers and masters, supreme 
and infallible. 

When Christ was about to leave his disciples, he 



Interpretation and Ritualism. 85 

promised to send them a " comforter " in his place — " the 
Spirit of truth" which the world could not receive, but 
only those that were in sympathy with him. It should 
be the invisible presence in place of the visible Savior. 
The Roman Catholics have materialized this invisible 
presence in the Eucharist. The wafer in the hands of 
the priest is transmuted into the literal body of Christ 
and given to the people, that they may in eating it have 
Christ in them. The doctrine is worked for all that it is 
worth, and everything involved in it is fully admitted, as 
for instance in the following quotation from a Catholic 
authority, which is but the echo of Catholic writers in 
general. " Every day multitudes of priests, be they fer- 
vent, lukewarm or vicious, it is the same, summon him 
(Christ) where it pleases them, give him to whom they 
will, confine him under lock and key, and dispose of him 
at their pleasure." The carnal interpretation with its 
gross materialism could go no farther than this. One 
may laugh at the absurdity or cry at the blasphemy and 
folly of it with equal reason. Argument would be out 
of place. The irony of the prophet Esaiah in denouncing 
idolatry would be appropriate, his language need hardly 
be changed to be applicable. " He burned part thereof 
in the fire, with part thereof he eated flesh, he roasted 
roast and is satisfied; and the residue thereof he maketh 
a god, he falleth down unto it and worshippeth it, and 
prayeth unto it, and saith deliver me for thou art my 
god. He feedeth on ashes, a deceived heart hath turned 
him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, is 
there not a lie in my right hand." But it must be ob- 
served about this interpretation and doctrine, that in 
common with all the doctrines and interpretations of the 
Catholic Church it serves the purpose of the priestly 



86 Christianity and Our Times. 

oligarchy wonderfully. What importance must be at- 
tached to the priest who thus has the Almighty at his 
disposal, can summon him at his will, deal him about to 
whom he will, and keep him under lock and key when 
not wanted. It has been in the hands of the priests a 
mighty engine for securing their own glorification, and 
the abject homage and submission of the masses. 

In keeping with the same carnal interpretation of 
Christianity is ritualistic worship. St. Paul in the 14th 
chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians describes a 
meeting of a congregation of Christians, such as he ap- 
proved of in the churches he organized. It is strictly 
speaking, a meeting of brethren upon the principle of 
equality laid down by Christ, where all might prophesy, 
and all take a part according to any gift or grace which 
they might possess, subject only to the general rule that 
all should be done decently and in order and serve the 
purpose of edification. It is needless to say that ritual- 
istic churches have no meetings or worship of this char- 
acter. In their churches the priest appears supreme, 
above and apart from the congregation; ceremonials and 
sacraments administered by the priest take the place of 
mutual edification. The word " sacrament" is not in the 
Bible, literally "holy act." Pronounced in a foreign 
tongue, it is invested with an air of supernatural import- 
ance, which serves well the purpose of the priest. This 
impression is enhanced as the priest-appears up by the 
altar, arrayed in sacerdotal garments, handling the sacred 
vessels, performing the solemn rites, pronouncing the 
magic words, which are. supposed to possess supernat- 
ural power. The congregation meanwhile as awe-struck 
spectators are passive recipients of the priestly ministra- 
tion. This as we suggested may serve the purpose of 



Interpretation AND Ritualism. ^7 

the priest, but it is not what St. Paul describes as Chris- 
tian worship in a congregation of Christians. 

In treating of this subject we have treated of a 
system not of individuals; if individuals are better than 
the system to which they belong, that is their honor and 
does not in the least excuse the system. But upon the 
whole, the ritualistic system finds a ready response in the 
human heart, which in its natural state is carnal, and 
more than willing to take up with a carnal interpretation 
of religion. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that 
the mechanical process of salvation finds many adherents, 
it is a broad way and many there be that walk therein. 
To be told by an infallible pope orpriest what to believe, 
suits them better than to search the Scriptures to find 
what the Lord requires. To be put through tKe process 
of regeneration by priestly baptism is easier than to seek 
to God for it by repentance and faith. Communion 
with God by the Holy Spirit as a personal experience is 
beyond his comprehension, but if it can be done by 
eating a wafer prepared by the priest, he is equal to it. 
The confirmation of the Christian life by a continual 
process of spiritual discipline, would seem a tedious af- 
fair, but if he can be confirmed once for all by a priestly 
rite, he is quite willing. To love God with all the heart, 
mind and strength, appears vague and perplexing, but 
he can understand this feast-day kept and that fast ob- 
served, so much of tithes for the priest; a cash consider- 
ation paid and have done with is far easier than a spirit- 
ual obligation. Faith in Christ that saves and transforms 
the character is difficult, but faith in an old blackened 
bone of a supposed St. Anne, a supposed mother of 
Mary, of whose life, death, burial and bones there is no 
record anywhere, faith in this with accompanying machine 



8S Christianity and Our Times. 

miracles is as natural as anything. To be told by Christ 
to strive earnestly to enter the strait gate by personal 
effort and personal holiness appears most wearisome, but 
if he can buy sanctification of the priest during life, and 
be by him put through the strait gate at the last moment 
by holy oil and general absolution, he is content to go 
to heaven. Why should he weary himself with life-long 
preparations for what can be done at the last moment 
by the priest. It must be confessed, however, that even 
the Catholic Church has had some misgivings about the 
completeness of this mechanical product, for they have 
invented a purgatory to finish it. 



CHAPTER VII. 

CREED AND DISCIPLINE. 

"Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things 

to draw away disciples after them . — Hold fast the 

form of sound words." — Paul. 

Why the creeds of Christendom are many while Christ 
and his Gospel are one, is a question often asked. While 
it is unfortunate that there should be any occasion for it, 
it is not in itself very perplexing in the light of general 
experience, for we know how difficult it is for men to 
arrive at precisely the same conclusion on any important 
question. Among Christians, worthy the name, there 
may be said to be practical unanimity in regard to the 
essential doctrines. Much schism has been caused by 
undue stress upon details; also by medling with speculative 
questions that are not necessarily part of the faith. 
Mercenary motives have had their share in creating er- 
rors and divisions; love of party, power and pleasures, 
have placed definitions upon the Word of God, that 
would make a heathen blush. The many creeds of 
Christendom are not therefore due to any inherent 
difficulty in understanding the Bible, but to cupidity 
and lack of spiritual insight, to man's general infirmi- 
ties in part, and to his willful depravity largely. 

The oneness of Christendom is no doubt a consum- 
mation devoutly to be wished for, but after all, it is but 



90 Christianity and Our Times. 

a circtimstance about Christianity, and not the thing it- 
self. Our Savior prayed for the oneness of the church. 
He must have taken its existence for granted, before he 
could pray that it might be one. In praying for his 
disciples that they might be one, he acknowledged that 
they might be disciples in fact, even though they were 
not one in a visible union. He prayed for the visible 
union of his followers, the spiritual union could not be 
prayed for as a contingency; for disciples cannot be 
such in fact, unless they have the same Spirit of Christ, 
and are therefore spiritually one. What Christ prayed 
for was a circumstance that would greatly increase the 
efficiency and power of the church in the world — as we 
see of his words " that the world may know" — not there- 
fore that the church and Christianity might have an exist- 
ence, for that was taken as granted, but that the world 
might have additional proof, be the more impressed, 
easier convinced, and also that the church itself might 
be saved from trouble. 

Christ, in praying, prayed for his disciples, those 
that were such in fact, by virtue of his spirit and faith. 
Without such there can be no true church. Those that 
are not such were not prayed for, and we conceive it is 
indifferent to Christ whether they are one or twenty. 
How many of the professed Christians of Christendom 
come within the scope of Christ's prayer, is not a ques 
tion to be argued, but it is only those that have his 
spirit and keep his word. When those of which this 
can not be said boast of their unity by virtue of the 
same external circumstances and church machinery, 
they make that the essential, which is but a circum- 
stance, though a very important one. Regeneration by 
God's Spirit is the basis of a Christian character, and 



Creed and Discipline. 91 

those that possess this character are the church. Vis- 
ible union may be regarded as the top-stone rather 
than the basis. Those who make unity the basis, invert 
the pyramid, they begin with the top-stone and end 
with nothing. 

The unification of the different sects of Christen- 
dom has of late been seen in the light of its importance, 
and been subject to much discussion. Plans for bring- 
ing about the desired result have been proposed. The 
need of a general conversion of nominal Christians be- 
fore any consistent union could be brought about, has 
some times been pointed out, but more generally lost sight 
of. It is not, however, certain that even this would 
secure visible union, for natural infirmities might still 
prevent it. It is certain that it would greatly facilitate 
such union. A basis for union is suggested by the 
Catholic Church: the absolute rule of one person, to 
which the conscience and reason of all must bend. If 
unity is the one thing above all things to be desired, 
then this plan should receive serious consideration, for 
the success of it in the Catholic Church is manifest. 
We prefer disunion rather than union on this plan, for 
the same reason that we prefer a live body, although 
subject to disorders, to a spiritual corpse, however quiet 
and easily ruled. 

Another basis is urged with great vehemence now- 
adays, it is that of "breadth." It is not quite clear 
where the real basis is, or where we are to look for the 
solid rock, for even the most liberal would hardly want 
to build on quicksand. Something solid must be pre- 
supposed, in spite of their own utterances, which would 
not warrant so charitable a view of their propositions. 
The terms " broad basis," " liberal views," coupled with 



92 Christianity and Our Times. 

progress of some kind, is too indefinite to determine 
with nice accuracy what is meant. All that we are 
made sure of, is, that the basis must be very broad and 
liberal so as to include all, or as many as possible. That 
it would be possible to include all, or even many, could 
not, however, be hoped for, unless we could convince 
them equally with ourselves that a very broad and lib- 
eral basis is the thing. We might fling our doors wide 
open for all, but what if they would not come. We might 
assure them that they were welcome to stancj with us on 
the common broad basis, that there is nothing in them 
that we object to. They might make this very thing 
their objection, our general indifference and indefinite- 
ness. 

This basis of "breadth" could not hang in the air, 
it would have to settle somewhere, probably it would 
find a natural resting-place in agnosticism. This, if it 
is also somewhat indefinite, is at least a fixed quantity in 
that it is a plain profession of doubt and suspense. The 
attitude of the agnostic is not without interest and a cer- 
tain fascination; to be able to stand aside from the re- 
ligious quarrels and disputes, and view them with the air 
of one who may be interested but not concerned, is an 
enviable position if it can be honestly maintained. If, 
moreover, he has the feeling that he is above this clamor 
and noise because he knows better, it must be to him a 
source of pride and gratification. He may with a good 
deal of satisfaction congratulate himself that he " is not 
in it." But then the question arises; what if he after all 
is in it in spite of himself. He acknowledges that there 
may be a God to whom he sustains responsible relation 
and that something or a great deal may be involved in 
this relation; only he does not know. Is his position 



Creed and' Discipline. 93 

after all consistent or can it be harmonized with reason? 
Is it at all possible that there could be a God towards 
whom we sustain a responsible relation, with much in- 
volved, unless this God has revealed it to us with suffi- 
cient clearness to make us without excuse if we fail to 
recognize it? Suppose a ruler should make laws or de- 
crees, and hold his subjects responsible for their observ- 
ance but fail to promulgate his laws so they might be 
known. Or suppose a father to hold his children re- 
sponsible for the doing of his will, but does not reveal 
his will to them with sufficient clearness for them to un- 
derstand. In the revelation of God to men, we perceive 
a nice balance between what is sufficient and what would 
overpower the will. But if God has made no revelation 
to us of his will, then we may say freely that there is no 
God; or that we do not sustain any relation to him, 
which amounts to the same. 

But if agnosticism is not meant by the demand for a 
broad basis, then it will probably be allowed that in spite 
of the utmost liberality there is yet something that must 
be insisted upon, that the basis if ever so broad must be 
sound. If this is the idea, then there must at least be a 
limit to the breadth of our basis, and our boasted liberal- 
ity will have to end somewhere. The question then is 
the same as ever — where is the limit, what must we in- 
sist upon? Even our new departure would not allow 
that anything false or wrong should be allowed on the 
ground we stand upon; so we are back to precisely the 
old ground, for there are none but avow themselves lib- 
eral enough to include all the truth, and even our most 
liberal friends would- not knowingly include anything 
more. But everything is not truth, as all will admit, 
here is the check upon our liberality. If our basis stretch 



94 Christianity and Our Times. 

beyond the truth, it is too broad; if it is confined to less* 
it is too narrow. We may, therefore, be in fault as well 
one way as the other. If we choose a basis because it is 
broad we use a hap-hazard method just as much as if we 
choose it because it is narrow. Reasonably we can 
choose as a basis of faith only what we believe to be 
truth, nothing more and nothing less, be it either broad 
or narrow, or be it impossible to apply either adjective to 
it. The only reason we can have to glory in our faith, 
or the basis of it, is the assurance that it is founded on 
truth. 

We would not sacrifice Christianity for the sake of 
the Church and its unity. We would not have the way 
broad as the road to perdition for the sake of having 
everybody walk with us. This indefinite talk about 
breadth and liberality, is but the meaningless rattle of 
muddled heads and godless hearts. But it is evident, 
that a great deal of unity might be effected among Pro- 
testants, without sacrificing any principle of faith and 
practice. The differences between the principal evan- 
gelical sects do not concern themselves about essentials, 
and this is in a fair way of being understood. The precise 
way in which to administer the rite of baptism, is not 
now considered sufficient cause for quarrel; most evan- 
gelical sects are willing to have it administered in any 
way that suits the applicant. In the same way with 
the doctrine of predestination, peculiar to the Presby- 
terian creed, it is scarcely ever now made an object of 
dispute. It is kept in the background, for even those 
who hold it theoretically, know that it does not work 
well in practice, when appealing to free moral agents. 
It might be held as it is now, without interferring with 
fellowship and union. But even if the best could be 



Creed and Discipline. 95 

done in the way of union among professed Christians, 
three distinct divisions would be demanded by funda- 
mental principles of faith. The Catholics would have to 
constitute one distinct body, and the Protestants would 
have to be divided between Ritualists and Evangelicals. 
There would be besides these, a distinct religious body, 
composed of Unitarians and those allied to them in 
faith, the Liberals of the new departure. These are 
practically one in belief, and would work together with- 
out any jar or disputes; reason demands that they should, 
and they might fill the want of a certain class of people. 
They could not consistently be included among Chris- 
tians; their Christ and Christianity is of their own 
making. 

Among the most sanguine of believers in the pro- 
gressiveness of our age, it is not uncommon to predict 
a time near at hand when even Protestants and Catho- 
lics shall be united rn one body. If such indeed could 
happen, it would be the most stupendous and far-reach- 
ing event of the age. Those who know what the dis- 
tinction between the two bodies has meant in the past, 
what it means now, and may mean in the future, will 
fully admit this. But could this result be imagined 
brought about by any process, some revolutionary 
change would have to take place in the Catholic 
Church before it could be at all possible. 

We might imagine the Catholic Church coming to 
herself like the prodigal, and asking seriously — " What 
after all is Christianity, what did Christ teach?" She 
might call a council for the purpose of deciding this 
question. It ought not in itself to be very difficult to 
decide, seeing all the information we have on the subject 
is found in the New Testament, and comprises only a 



g6 Christianity and Our Times. 

few hours reading. She would have to confine herself to 
this information. She would have to break with the 
past; this ought not to be hard, for it has been cruel 
and bloody beyond description. She would have to 
throw aside the rubbish of false interpretations, imposi- 
tions and folly accumulated through ages; neither ought 
this be very hard, for some of the popes and their tools 
were among the worst of men, as Catholics will admit, 
and their definitions and doctrines foisted upon the 
church are moral monstrosities and intellectual absurd- 
ities. But then, on the other hand, there is human na- 
ture, with all that it implies. A going back to the New 
Testament would touch self-interests, power and pride. 
And we have to admit that there is no prospect of the 
result anticipated. The spirit of the middle ages rules in 
the ruling portion of the Catholic Church with as much 
malignity as it ever did. By the ruling portion we under- 
stand the ecclesiastic machine and t?he fanatical masses 
behind it. Of course, there are good Catholics in the 
true sense, liberal Catholics and infidel Catholics; these 
classes, made up of the more intelligent, support a lib- 
eral government in nearly all Catholic countries at pres- 
ent; how long they will be able to keep themselves in 
power is a question of great interest. 

It is not therefore that the Protestant Church could 
not be induced to shake hands with the Catholic across 
the bloody chasm of millions martyred and millions slain. 
We could, if those hands were cleansed by repentance 
and reformation, but they are yet red with the blood of 
tens of thousands of murders, that have never been re- 
pented of, nor abhorred, nor regretted. Intolerance 
survived among the Protestants, as did other Catholic 
errors, for some time after the reformation, but the spirit 



Creed and Discipline. 97 

of the reformation is against it, it fell naturally, and is 
now repudiated and abhorred by all Protestant denomi- 
nations. It has never been repudiated by the Catholic 
Church; they may well boast of unchangeable principles, 
and of them all there is none more unchangeable than 
that of conformity or extermination. For a thousand 
years she upheld this principle with fire and sword, and 
at an estimated cost of fifty millions of human lives. She 
clung to it with the tenacity of a thirty years war in Ger- 
many, and nearly a century of wars in Holland, and force 
alone prevented her from carrying it out to the total sup- 
pression of Protestantism. 

But after all, this exhibition of the depravity of hu- 
man nature, is only an example on a large scale of what 
we see illustrated every day around us. We know with 
what energy and tenacity even the smallest trust or 
monopoly will fight for their special privileges, their ex- 
clusive rights. The Catholic Church is a monopoly on 
a gigantic scale. She claims the special privilege, the 
sole right of saving the souls of men. This to her has 
been profitable business, and in her way of doing it, not 
hard work. In it is involved her claim upon the civil 
power to enforce her laws and impose her penalties, not 
relinquished, although not complied with to the same ex- 
tent as in the middle ages. There is involved in it that 
claim to supremacy over all things, civil and religious, 
which the Catholic Church has never withdrawn. What 
the church is fighting for, and has fought for with a des- 
peration that has trampled upon every claim of humanity, 
is not some particular religious creed, it is this monopoly 
with its immense interests of wordly power, wealth and 
homage. It is the fear of losing this, that fired her zeal 
and frenzied her heart at the mere sight of a Bible in the 



9B Christianity and Our Times. 

hands of a layman, that made her stir all Christendom to 
wipe out in flame and blood even the least indication of 
rebellion against her authority. Does anyone doubt that 
she is still fighting for her monopoly, her special privi- 
lege and exclusive right. She is fighting for it with all 
the weapons of spiritual and carnal warfare, openly or in 
the dark, under the guise of friendship or undisguised 
as an enemy, and if anybody thinks she will quit doing 
it, he knows but little of human nature. 

But what of the countless masses that uphold her 
pow^r and submit to her control. It is not so much that 
they are ignorant, but they are interested in getting their 
souls saved as cheaply as possible. The Catholic Church 
offers them salvation on terms favorable to human nature; 
on easy terms, so to speak, for what after all is fixed 
tribute and rules, feasting, fasting, and ceremony, com- 
pared with intelligent, personal, heart and soul effort. 
The masses upon the whole consider that they have a 
good bargain of it. If anyone doubts, let him read 
history, or notice a Catholic mob, in some of 
our cities. If anyone should dare to tell these 
masses that their priests deceive them; that they are un- 
able to fulfill their promises, or make good their bar- 
gains, we have the rage of the mob, the frenzy of St. 
Bartholomew and a thousand horrors. An all important 
salvation to be secured and an easy way of securing it, 
is a principle in religion and not to be trifled with. 

Reforms in the Catholic Church can only be super- 
ficial improvements of local or temporary character, 
there can be no permanent or effectual reform. The 
roots of all evil are found in her organization and princi- 
ples, and they will be apt to spring u[) and bear their 
legitimate fruit under any favorable circumstances, and 



Creed and Discipline. 99 

what that is. history fully informs us. Some would dis- 
tinguish between the religious and political capacity of 
the phurch, and oppose her in one capacity while not in 
the other. The church itself knows no such distinction. 
The doctrines and interpretations of the Catholic Church 
have this peculiarity, that they are made and maintained 
with special reference to her political or worldly power. 
They are but the foundation stones on which rests the 
tremendous superstructure of worldly interests of all 
kinds. Does anyone imagine that the Catholic Church 
would strenuously insist on her interpretation of a cer- 
tain passage connected with the apostle Peter, and 
coupled with the invention that he was the first pope at 
Rome, unless it precisely suited her purpose of worldly 
power and control. Where the selfish design is so manifest, 
to argue is folly. The doctrine of mass and purgatory, 
what is it, but a most ingenious scheme for levying trib- 
ute. How well does the doctrine of the " real presence" 
serve to secure homage and superstitious regard. The 
opportunities of the confessional as means of power and 
control is notorious. How much in her system serve in- 
directly the same purpose by appealing to the intellectual 
and spiritual sloth of perverted human nature. As with 
her doctrine so with her discipline, no one is ever ex- 
pelled on any moral ground, but let them in any way 
question the authority on which rests her political or 
worldly power, they are at once pronounced worthless 
and got rid of. If the clergy of many Catholic countries 
are dissolute and greedy to a degree of audacity, and the 
people degraded, ignorant and foolish, it never causes a 
ripple of agitation or discontent on the banks of the 
Tiber, as long as Ihey do not dispute the authority of 
the church. 



100 Christianity and Our Times. 

Among Protestants, the Episcopalians have of late 
been forward with plans for union, and among them 
more especially the extreme ritualists. Some of their 
efforts and propositions are amusing because so appar- 
ently innocent. They do not seem to perceive that the 
difference between them and the Evangelicals, is anything 
more than a matter of ceremony, succession and the lay- 
ing on of hands. But the difference between regenera- 
tion and church membership by priestly rite and cere- 
mony, and the same by a spiritual change in character, 
realized by personal experience, and manifest by its fruit 
is fundamental ^nd cannot be bridged over by mutual 
concessions. The Evangelicals must first forget what is 
fundamental in their faith, and what caused their separa- 
tion from the state churches, 'before they can unite on a 
basis of ceremony and circumstance. Aside from this, 
we may readily admit that the difference practically is 
not so great as theoretically, for ritualists are not neces- 
sarily confined in their spiritual aspirations to what their 
system affords, while among Evangelicals competition 
coupled with an ambition for numbers and popularity, 
often betray them into laxity of discipline. But as to 
the respective systems, it is the difference between the 
carnal and spiritual interpretation of Christianity. The 
one is a creation of the civil power, whether in the 
hands of popes or kings; the other, in its inception, was 
the return to the Christianity of the Bible, by men who 
had a true understanding of it. 



A creed or church discipline is not a substitute for, 
nor a supplement to the Word of God; it is a means of 
keeping the church pure and orderly. The church would 
have no need of creed or discipline if it were sure to have 



Cr£ed and Discipline. ioi 

to do with none but honest, intelligent and spiritual 
Christians. It is the law or rule of the church, but as 
St. Paul says, the law is not meant for the righteous but 
for the unrighteous. The church is sure to have to do 
with such as need law and rule to restrain and guide. 
There will be such as would " pervert the Gospel of 
Christ," those that " creep in unawares" — having not the 
faith," those that would make godliness an occasion of 
gain," and others who "having left their first love" be- 
gan to give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of 
devils — vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind" — unto 
whom the Word of God soon becomes distasteful, who 
will be tempted by a love of notoriety and popularity to 
make innovations in conformity to worldly taste. Such 
as have theories of their own they wish to circulate, and 
for this purpose would mak^use of the church. Unless 
the church has the means of getting rid of all such easy 
and effectually, it would in time disintegrate and become 
shapeless as well as helpless. 

But it may be said: has not the church the Bible, 
which is the supreme rule of faith and practice, why not 
judge all offenders by this supreme standard. It has 
been pointed out elsewhere that the Bible is not written 
in the form, of a law book, and was not meant to deal 
with those who are dishonest, conceited and unruly. 
Interpretations of the Bible may be made to serve selfish 
interests or spiritual blindness. For this reason the 
church must define her doctrine, forbid lawless interpre- 
tation, and have rules and discipline for bringing offend- 
ers to account. 

A loose definition is of no value in dealing with 
offenders. Suppose we make " faith in Christ" the con- 
dition for church fellowship; the Christ might be any- 



I02 Christianity and Our* Times. 

thing from the "good man "of the Unitarians to " the 
only begotten of the Father," the faith might be either 
dead or aHve, it might be everything or nothing. Or 
suppose we make " love to God " the condition; the love 
might be a mere sympathetic impulse, or it might be a 
ruling principle. God might be the God of providence and 
the Bible, or he might be " the soul of the universe" 
toward whom we sustain no relation. It has become 
increasingly necessary to have strict definitions, and firm 
rules to enforce them, for modern heretics may and do 
freely subscribe to any creed or to any view of the Bible, 
knowing that they may depend upon their ingenuity to 
put an interpretation upon it that will enable them to 
hold the opposite of what is literally expressed. In such 
cases the church must insist upon her own interpretation 
and upon honesty on the part of those that subscribe to 
her creed. Unless the church had power and disposi- 
tion to deal with this kind of cases, it would become a 
bundle of inconsistencies, a conglomeration of every kind 
of belief and unbelief. 

We are being told by the leaders of the new de- 
parture, reassuringly, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, 
that " that error is dangerless if truth is left free to com- 
bat it." This may or may not be true, but at any rate, 
the church should not be battle ground for the combat. 
She is not an institution for the pugilistic encounter of 
truth and error, furnishing both with a free asylum, and 
the spectators with a free show. The church was meant 
to be an asylum for truth alone; she was meant to be 
"the pillar and ground of the truth," to uphold it and 
equip it for conquest. She is under no obligation to 
give error the same privilege, and no appeal on the 
ground of breadth and liberality should ihduce the church 



Creed and Discipline. 103 

to act as a disinterested mother and protector to both, 
anxious to give them an equal chance. Error belongs 
to what Christ calls " the world." The world will take care 
of its own, there is no fear but what it will be equipped 
and given a chance. 

A state of conflicting opinions, doubt, suspense and 
speculation, is the proper and inevitable state of the ir- 
religious world outside the church. It is so conceived 
of and described in the Word of God. But the church 
is supposed to consist of Christians, and Christians are 
supposed to have settled convictions as to faith and duty, 
even to a degree of assurance that can say as the apostle 
does, " we know." A faith and assurance, founded not 
merely on historical evidence, but on personal experience 
and realization of thepower of the truth of which theypro- 
fess to have become convinced. A church that is non- 
committal as to faith and doctrine, that has no settled 
convictions, cannot, according to the New Testament, 
be called a church; they had better disband, take their 
place with the world, first settle their doubts and de- 
termine what they believe, and not make a profession of 
faith till they can answer in the affirmative that question 
an apostle once put to a candidate for baptism, " If thou 
believest with all thine heart thou mayest." 

There seems to have been a settled plan in operation 
the last forty years to bring about the present apostasy. 
The process has been gradual and the development sys- 
tematic. To sow the seed of error and make it grow, 
there must first be a breaking up of the doctrines and 
settled convictions of the church; this has been accom- 
plished by an incessant uproar about dogma, theology 
and anything except the cloudy phantasm of doubt and 
suspense. After the leaven of this invidious clamor had 



104 Christianity and Our Times. 

worked a while, and a sentiment had been created in the 
church that took pride in saying " we do not know," in- 
stead of the apostolic *' we know," there was a bold at- 
tack upon the infallibility of the Bible and its essential 
doctrines. We were told, in effect, that while the fruits 
of Christianity was all that could be desired, the roots 
might very well be rooted up and the sterii left to 
decay. What does it matter as we have the fruit. This 
view has been enthusiastically accepted by a portion of 
the churches. 

The trend of modern Liberalism is the opposite of 
the assurance of faith spoken of in the Bible. To the 
Liberals, Christianity is something yet to be constructed 
by "modern scholarships" or evolved by evolution, 
rather than** the faith once delivered to the Saints," 
and permanently settled by Christ and his apostles. The 
withering; sco^n, with which Christ and St. Paul sooke 
of the wisdom of the scholarship in their days, may be 
understood when we notice the arrogancy and self-con- 
ceit of what go by that name nowadays. " Hid from the 
wise and prudent," says Christ, "and revealed unto 
babes"; "counting themselves wise they became fools," 
says St. Paul, and "the wisdom of this world is foolish- 
ness with God." Infidelity under the guise of "modern 
scholarship" is very much like infidelity under any other 
•name. 

Faith may exist in connection with some error, as 
goodness may exist in spite of some faults, but neither 
error nor faults can exist, even in the least degree, with- 
out harm or damage. Even as Christ taught, "Who 
therefore shall break one of these least commandments, 
and shall teach man so, — teach the least error, he may 
be saved in spite of it, but he shall be least." When 



Creed and Discipline. 105 

error becomes presumptuous and fundamental, and when 
faults develop into willful evil-doing, there is an end of 
excuses, and the duty of the church is plain. She must 
purge out the leaven of false doctrines and unrighteous- 
ness. Modern heretics never weary of stirring up strife 
and confusion about the doctrines of the Bible and the 
Bible itself. When called to order, they tell us piously, 
that we are neglecting our work for the sake of doc- 
trine and controversy. They seemingly claim a monopoly 
of this, and it might be accorded them if they would 
take their proper place in exercising it. The time is 
long past, when the churches had a disposition to strain 
at a gnat, now they are more apt to swallow both* gnat 
and camel. The prevailing zeal of the churches is not 
for strict doctrine, but for numbers and popularity. 
Heretics do not receive attention, unless they attack the 
fundamental doctrines of the faith, and not even then un- 
less they are very pronounced and arrogant. Attacks 
on the authority and infallibility of the Bible involve all 
that we know or believe about Christianity; there is no 
source of information outside of it. If this can be proved 
to be unreliable, then it can be shown that we know 
nothing certain about what we profess, and we are back to 
the basis of paganism for faith and morals, namely, phi- 
losophy and human nature, or the compound of both 
which go by the name of reason. The 3ible sinks to 
the level of ordinary books; we may go to it for help 
and inspiration, in our effort to find out what is faith 
and duty, as we would go to Plato or Seneca, Shake- 
speare or Tennyson, but it can offer us only sugges- 
tions. It is not the special revelation direct from God, to 
which human passions and prejudices, speculations and 
imaginations must submit as the final authority. We 



io6 Christianity and Our Times. 

have conceded all that infidelity ever contended for, for 
infidels are willing to accept the Bible as good, and some 
of its teaching as "beautiful," if they can be allowed the 
selective process in dealing with it, and subject it to their 
views and notions. They are willing to accept of Christ 
in the same sense, making of him what they will. There 
are in this case no infidels, nor any quarrel between the 
two parties. If Christians have been slow to perceive 
this, infidels have seen it clearly from the start, hence 
the incessant clamor and uproar in favor of the newtheol- 
ogy. A shout of jubilee has gone up all along the lines 
of infidelity ever since the movement took definite form, 
and all seculardom has rejoiced with the joy described 
in the book of Revelations, when the two Witnesses that 
were very troublesome, were at last killed; so much as 
to cause one to believe Luther was right, when he made 
out the two Witnesses to be the New and Old Testament. 
But seculardom did not allow the dead bodies to be laid 
in their graves; oh, no, after they have been stripped of 
life and authority, they may well be allowed, for is there 
not much that is "beautiful" in them. But, after all, is 
there anything in or about religion that the world, the 
flesh and the devil hates and fears, except this same open 
Bible, not dead, but alive with authority. 

The New Testament has a great deal to say about 
the duty of the church in the matter of preserving " sound 
doctrine," It is told to "contend earnestly for the faith" 
as though there was something fixed and certain to con- 
tend for, and a need of contending for it; and it is the 
" faith once delivered to the saints," not someone to be 
evolved along through the ages. The expression 
"damnable heresies" is entirely scriptural, heresy ac- 
cording to the Bible is as damnable as immorality. St. 



Creed and Discipline. 107 

Paul is not liberal in the modern sense of the word, when 
he denounces those that " trouble you, and would per- 
vert the Gospel of Christ" and goes on to say " let them 
be accursed." Our liberal churches would object by 
saying that those who do so are both "nice" and "smart," 
but St. Paul foresaw this, for he says that though they 
be veritable St. Pauls or angels from heaven, let them be 
accursed, and if this seem harsh or if any think there is 
a mistake, he repeats the same more deliberately. "As 
we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach 
any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, 
let him be accursed." Most of the epistles are taken up 
with the teaching of " sound doctrine." The sharpest re- 
bukes and fiercest denunciations are hurled against those 
that teach the contrary, or who are " vain babblers " or 
theorists "intruding into those things which they have 
not seen, vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind." Mod- 
ern advocates of " large liberty " and " liberal views" did 
not receive their inspiration from the Bible, for it takes 
for granted throughout, that the distinction between 
truth and error is sharp and well-defined, and that those 
who will " do the will of God "shall and can " know of 
the doctrine " that is from God. Christ in his last mes- 
sage to the churches finds little fault with their charity 
and good works, but he finds fault with them because 
they had allowed false teachers to teach their false doc- 
trines within the church. They were evidently in the 
'same state as that of liberal churches of to-day from 
whom the cry of" charity and good works"is incessantly 
going up. Christ says he knows all about it — " the last 
more than the first " increased zeal in it, but he tells them 
he will not take it as an excuse for their spiritual whore- 
doms and departure from the truth, their toleration of 



io8 Christianity and Our Times. 

false teachers and sympathy with their false doctrine. 
Christ evidently saw in this the greatest peril to his 
church. 

" A man that is a heretic after the first and second 
admonition, reject." This is the New Testament rule 
for dealing with heretics, those that are presumptuous 
and self-willed in their error can not be gotten rid of too 
quickly. The false liberality and slowness of church 
trial, that allows the heretic to sow his seed of error for 
months and years after he has been discovered, is a dis- 
grace to the church and disloyalty to Christ and his 
truth. Wrong tendencies and false notions among lay 
members, are often due to ignorance and want of spiritual 
insight. Doctrines have been cried down, and system- 
atic teaching of children and youth neglected. Converts 
have but-little instruction before joining the church, and 
the lessons of Sunday-school and pulpit are disjointed 
and inadequate. Reports and statistics have become a 
terror to the pastors, the temptation to make a show at 
any rate, is great, and the prevailing liberalism offers 
little resistance to it. A selfish zeal to save the church 
and save one's self in a worldly sense becomes dominant; 
under this influence souls are not born again, they join 
without the enlightening and sanctifying influence of the 
Holy Spirit, which otherwise would make up in a meas- 
ure for lack of instruction. The consequence is that 
many of the churches are just now in a condition where 
they are apt to mistake the howling of the wolves for the* 
voice of the shepherd. Some of our professors of theol- 
ogies have a faint suspicion that there is something in 
religion, but it is trouble for them to make out what it 
is; they have been feeding upon the husks of infidelity 
that were meant for the swine, till now they do not quite 



Creed and Discipline. 109 

know whether there is a God in heaven or whether they 
have a soul. Candidates for the ministry go from them, 
their heads crammed with infidel criticism and in their 
heart a morbid desire to startle the world with some new 
announcement. The froth of infidelity comes to the 
surface in their conduct, their conceit generally cor- 
responds to their lack of spirituality. " These be thy 
gods, O Israel," and they are not golden calves either. 
A writer in a leading periodical has lately boasted that 
the heterodox seminaries have enough of these brazen 
calves provided to supply the pulpits throughout the land 
when the churches shall be ready to receive them, and 
he contemplates that by that time there will be no lack 
of " breadth." This is the modern tactics of infidehty. 
To attack the church and Christianity as avowed enemies 
has well-nigh ceased, but to work within the church dis- 
guised as friends and professing the faith has become the 
rule. The work of disintegration could be done no 
more effectually than through a skeptical ministry, and 
strenuous efforts have been made to secure control of 
theological seminaries. 

The difficulty involved in keeping these institutions 
true to Christianity and their appointed mission, should 
by this time be seen and recognized by the churches. 
What is being done by them in America, has been done 
in other countries. In Germany, Rationalism secured 
a foothold in the seminaries, and through them in the 
pulpit. The result is that Protestant Germany has be- 
come unbelieving. What infidelity and skepticism could 
not have done outside as an avowed enemy of religion, 
'it has done most effectually under the guise of friend- 
ship and the assumed name of Christian. Liberalism, 
likewise in England, allowed the leaven of Romanism to 



no Christianity and Our Times. 

be introduced in theological institutions; the result is 
that to-day one can hardly tell whether the Anglican 
Church is Protestant or Catholic, s6 thoroughly has it 
been Romanized In the Apostolic Church, the servants 
and ministers of various kinds were taken from the bosom 
of the Church, and chosen after they had demonstrated 
their fitness and ability. Endowed and self-supporting 
institutionshave their life too much apart from the church 
-and are apt to become subject to foreign influences. 
The pride of learning, the conceit of novelties and love 
of notoriety will take the place of honest striving for 
spiritual fitness as ministers of the church. Wherever a 
heap of mammon is piled up in any one place, the world, 
the flesh, and the devil will strain every nerve to get 
control. If institutions of this kind must be part of the 
church machinery, they can not be too strictly and cer- 
tainly under her control. The church surrenders her 
life, independence and character, when she allows min- 
isters and teachers to be imposed upon her that have 
been trained under influences apart from the church. 

The church is responsible for the preservation and 
promulgation of the truth revealed and committed to her 
by Christ. Faith in this truth is the basis of all moral 
qualities and spiritual life. Truth about the true char- 
acter of God, without a knowledge of which we cannot 
be God-like. Truth about Christ, involving the whole 
question whether God indeed has revealed himself in a 
special plan for the salvation of the world. Truth about 
the Holy Spirit, answering the question, *' will God in- 
deed dwell on the earth?" "Can we have conscious 
communion with God?" Truth about a future life: it is* 
of infinite consequence that we should know how much 
is involved in right-doing and wrong-doing, if infinite 



Creed and Discipline. hi 

bliss or woe is involved, and of that importance is right 
doctrine on the subject. Truth about the Bible, involv- 
ing the whole question, whether upon the whole, we 
know anything certain of what we profess. The respon- 
sibility on the part of the church of teaching and main- 
taining the truth in its purity, cannot be overestimated, 
or too much emphasized. She would be infinitely guilty, 
if she should allow error to be substituted for truth, or 
upon the whole be indifferent and negligent as to what 
is taught. 

A church that is lacking either the power or the dispo- 
sition to deal with those that teach or act contrary to the 
standards of the church, is not in harmony with the New 
Testament, neither does it fulfill the requirements of per- 
sonal honor and integrity, for the one as well as the other 
of these demands that those who fellowship with us in 
the church, toward whom we sustain relations and have 
responsibilties, who have a right to call us brethren, 
should also be subject to common requirements, and be 
liable to be called to account if they teach or act contrary 
to the compact. One would suppose by the demand for 
liberality in faith and church government, and the pride 
some take in being considered liberal, that this is the 
fundamental and crowning glory of religion; but one 
may be liberal in any sense of the word, without being 
either religious, virtuous or honest. Christianity is not 
a negation of this sort. The only reason Christianty has for 
its existence, is the fact that there is something definite 
both in regard to faith and practice to be insisted upon, 
and that it is revealed to us, so that we know it. The 
church does not compel thought or belief, she compels 
those that do not think or believe in harmony with her, 
to remain separate. Her only weapon is rebuke and 



112 Christianity and Our Times. 

expulsion. The church must take it for granted that the 
enemies of God and his truth are as ready now as in the 
days of Christ or St. Paul, to enter the fold as " wolves 
arrayed in sheep's clothing," and she cannot afford to 
neglect the repeated warnings of Christ and his apostles 
to guard against them, and expel them if they have 
"crept in unawares." If the church should conclude 
she has nothing worth contending for, the world will con- 
clude she has nothing worth listening to. But this 
is evidently not the idea of ourliberals and heretics — that 
there is nothing worth contending for; while they sneer 
at contention about the doctrines of the Bible, they 
are contending for their errors with desperate earnest- 
ness. And while they denounce controversies about 
the faith of the church, they are filling books and 
periodicals with controversies in favor of their pet- 
theories, as though life and death depended on them. 



CHAPTER VriT. 

FUTURE PUxMISHMENT. 

'* For I have five brethren: that he may testify unto them lest they also 
come into this place of torment. — Gospel of Luke. 

The speaker in our text is represented as one of a 
large family, who, like himself, could not be persuaded 
that there is a hell, neither by Scripture, nor even by a 
message from the Spirit world should such be vouchsafed. 
There are reasons for this unbelief, fear on the one hand 
and sympathy on the other favor it. Hells, either in 
this or a future world, are not objects one would con- 
template from choice. If it were a mere questien of 
inventing or imagining a better state of things than that 
which exists in this world, or portions of the next, as 
described in the Bible, it would be very easy to better 
things; but things are not bettered by speculations and 
theories. What we have to do is to find out and under- 
stand the facts as they are presented to us, and govern 
our faith and practice in accordance with them. 

The difficulty on the part of those that would refute 
the "theory of hell " so called, is that there is so little 
theory about it, and so much fact. The worst hell ever 
nictured by poet or priest lies within the range of hu- 
man experience in this world. We do not need to draw 
unon imagination at all, everything, except eternal dur- 
,r.i'>!i may be seen or felt any time; but eternal duration 



114 Christianity and Our Times. 

is in itself only a continuation of the present, and there- 
fore not something new. Those that have no fear of the 
revelation of the Bible, may well fear the revelation of 
our natural life; they are equally fearful in this respect — 
the one is the complement and affirmation of the other. 
There are experiences in this life that could not be men- 
tioned on account of their very horribleness. Unrelieved 
by the poetical genius of a Dante, the hells of this world 
and the next would not tolerate description. But a 
proud, vain and boastful generation might do well occa- 
sionally to ponder that what itwould be intolerable either 
to speak or hear, what we do not even dare to know lies 
all within the range of human experience, within the 
range of possibilities in every case. We boast of in- 
vincible courage, indomitable will power, and all that 
sort of thing, while the disorder of. a single nerve in a 
poor, frail body, leaves us helpless and tormented, with- 
ering both happiness and ambition. " It is true this 
god did shake; his coward lips did from their color fly; 
and the same eyes whose bend doth owe the world, did 
lose their lustre." 

Man has felt the awfulness of this problem of pains in 
all ages. The ignorant have tried to put on a bold face and 
defy it; the philosopher has quailed before it. The prob- 
lem stares us out of countenance, although it is a very un- 
philosophical thing in this philosophical age to be stared 
out of countenance by any problem. Yet very few dare to 
look at it soberly, if they do not refuse to look at it at all. 
They excuse themselves by the modern aphorism that we 
must look at the bright side of things, even when the 
dark thrusts itself upon us as though it courted inquiry. 
Undoubtedly the philosophical thing is to look at all 
sides of life or any question connected with it. The 



Future Punishment. 115 

pessimist and optimist are equally at fault, but the latter 
is apt to be the worse deceived. If anyone is so con- 
stituted that he can look only at one side of life, or any- 
thing, he had better look at the side from whence dan- 
ger threatens, so look that he may be aware. 

It is a fair question to ask what science and civiliza- 
tion have done towards the solution of this problem of 
pain. Of course, the mere alleviation of suffering that 
may be effected by charity does not touch the question 
as we are now considering it. The discovery of anes- 
thetics may be said to be a real achievement in the field 
of science. But the very fact that it has been considered 
a great triumph to be able to deaden the sense of pain, 
but for a few moments, and this at considerable risk, 
rather serves to emphasize the fact of our general help- 
lessness. As for civilization, it has only made us the 
more sensitive to pain. It is estimated that a civilized 
person with nervous temperament, suffers three times as 
much as a savage under the same surgical operation, and 
civilized man is subject to mental pain and distress that 
the savage knows nothing of. As we cultivate and in- 
tensify life, the realms of pain and pleasure alike open 
before us, and in equal proportion. The pain and dis- 
tress to which we become exposed is in every way equal 
to the pleasure and happiness we may hope to obtain, 
even as the degradation of character we may witness any 
day, is equal in proportion to the exaltation that has 
been attained. There is an infinitude between the two. 
Man has not only been able readily to conceive of the 
pains of hell from present experience, but as readily of 
the characters that fulfill the opposite conditions. The 
conceptions of angels and devils as painted by the great 
masters illustrate the extremes to which human character 



ii6 Christianity and Our Times. 

tends; as we compare the two we see at once that the 
distinction between heaven and hell is not arbitrary, but 
that it exists in character to the full extent pictured in 
the Bible. 

Philosophy has attempted to explain the problem of 
pain on tlie ground of utility. Something, undoubtedly, 
may be accounted for on this ground, but, upon the 
whole, the use it serves is rather incidental, as a solution 
of the problem the explanation is quite inadequate. 
Pain may be of use as a means of discipline. The pecuHar 
sensitiveness of the skin may serve the purpose of ward- 
ing off injury and be so intended. The heart laid bare, 
it is said, may be pinched without much feeling, If this 
however, is meant to prove that sensitiveness exists in 
the skin alone, we are easily imdeceived. Internal 
diseases are not painless. Neither does pain cease when 
it is of no more use as a warning against injury, nor as a 
disciplinary agency. It continues after the injury 
has been accomplished and the warning vain. It 
continues also after an individual has become in- 
corrigible and discipline useless. Properly speak- 
ing, all that we know about it is, that whenever 
there is injury there is pain, there is never pain unless 
there is injury. This is true of our physical as well as 
of our moral being. The pain continues till the injury is 
healed. If the injury is incurable, the pain is also in- 
curable. 

Pain of conscience, properly understood is disciplin- 
ary. It is irrelevant to speak of conscience in connection 
with the damned. As conscience, the divine element in 
the soul, is eliminated and withdrawn, actual dread of 
punishment becomes more and more an element in re- 
morse, drepA r'f punishment without any sorrow for evil 



Future Punishment. 117 

doing, till at last there is nothing of conscience left, but 
"a certain fearful looking for of judgment." 

" Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of 
God" is the language alike of revelation and nature, the 
impartial observer will find no more nor any less evidence 
of the one than of the other. But what is most pleasant 
to contemplate, of that there can be no question. In an 
age largely sympathetic and sentimental, with no lofty 
apprehension of moral requirements, we may look for 
efforts to put the best possible construction upon an evil 
case. The "best" under these circumstances is not 
likely to be the most logical. Sound reason would re- 
quire us to believe that what is involved inhuman nature 
may be evolved, but the extremes of degradation .nnd 
elevation, pain and joy, are alike involved. We choose 
the most felicitous moments of our life, enlarge upon the 
experience and imagine something beyond, a continuance 
of this we call heaven; we think of our direst experience, 
the severest pain we have known, and need imagine 
nothing more, a continuation of it would be hell, greater 
than we would want to think of. Vv e have no doubt that the 
promise of joy and glory will be fulfilled, the seed of the 
rose and lily will certainly grow, develop and flourish; 
but the evil seed sown in hearts and cultivated, it is 
hoped, will somehow prove a failure^ its development cut 
short, and its legitimate fruit fail to appear. But nature, 
no more than Scripture, encourages this hope. Weeds 
and thistles have a vitality and immortality seemingly 
inherent in their nature, which nothing can eradicate, 
while the useful plants and grains can only be cultivated 
into existence, and if cultivation cease they will shortly 
degenerate into worthless scrubs and grasses from which 
they had been developed. As far, then, as nature is 



ii8 Christianity and Our Times. 

concerned evil may be said to have a natural immortality, 
but good is conditioned on careful cultivation and it looks 
as though the same law obtains in the moral world. 

In view of the doctrine of eternal consequences in- 
dicated in nature and taught in the Scriptures, it has 
been suggested, and even boldly declared, that it would 
have been better if the world had never come into ex- 
istence, than that so much woe should have been en- 
tailed. In some moods we might all second this idea, as 
Christ said of some persons that it would have been 
better for them if they had not been born; so it may be 
true of some worlds, that it would have been better if they 
had not been born. It is implied in the words of Christ 
that God is not responsible for the propagation and con- 
tinuation of a wicked race, though for reasons known to 
himself, and in part revealed, he has not so far seen fit 
to make an end of it by divine intervention. The prin- 
cipal reason is undoubtedly that some good is got out of 
the world in spite of the evil, heaven counts even a single 
sinner saved a great gain. But as to the world as it now 
is, God does not assume the responsibility for it, nothing 
is taught more clearly in the Word of God than this, that 
the world is estranged from God, it is placed in direct 
opposition to God's world and kingdom. In order to be 
saved we must, in a spiritual sense, forsake this world 
and be born anew into God's world and kingdom, it is 
then said of the children of God, thus born, that they" are 
not of the world " and may not be " conformed to the 
world," neither "love the world," and that the world 
lieth in the wicked one." God created the world in the 
beginning and saw that it was good, but now, according 
to Scripture, it is another and different world. God in 
creating, creates conditions; men make a good or bad use 



Future Punishment. 119 

of them as they choose. It may well be said that man 
is as sovereign within his sphere as God within his. " Is 
it not written ... I said, ye are gods . . . and the 
Scriptures cannot be broken," mean and humble, at 
times, even loathsome, as man appears in his fallen, de- 
graded condition, there is yet in him the possibilities of 
all that is noble and exalted on one hand and wicked 
and degraded on the other, and he has it in his power to 
make actual these possibilities. He creates his own 
world; his character^ destiny and environment are all of 
his own making. God's sovereignty is exercised in re- 
straining and circumscribing his sphere of activity, and 
the Bible promises that the incorrigible wicked shall at 
the end of time be confined absolutely to their own 
world. 

When it is asked what good purpose eternal punish- 
ment will serve we object to the question as irrelevant. 
It goes on the presumption that Scripture, as well as our 
experience in this world, are entirely false in what they 
teach on this subject. According to the teaching of 
both, sin is'an essential evil and does not tend to serve 
any good purpose, this is not to be expected or hoped 
for. If it is sometimes possible with God to " make the 
wrath of man to praise him,'* this is an incidental benefit, 
but otherwise, sin and its evil are such in their very char- 
acter, by voluntary action and free will, blameable and 
damnable in their exercise, and the results that flow from 
it cannot be anything but bitter and painful through 
time and eternity. There is never anything actually 
gained by violating God's laws; if that were the case, 
then they ought to be violated. The sooner the world 
finds out that sin and its consequences do not tend to 
any good purpose, the better it will be for the world. 



120 Christianity and Our Times. 

It has been objected that heaven could not be happy- 
while hell existed. This idea is natural, and will sug- 
gest itself to all. But heaven is not a thing of the fut- 
ure, it is now and has always been, and so with hell, 
to some extent it is now and has been ever since men or 
angels fell from their allegiance to God. Heaven is sup- 
posed to be happy now, while not only sin and suffer- 
ing to a great extent exists, but when often those suffer 
who least deserve it, when wrong and suffering and pain 
is inflicted on the very children o&God; while wicked 
men and devils are rampant, destroying God's creation, 
and bidding defiance to the Almighty, " deceiving, if 
it were possible, the very elect." Should heaven be 
less happy when wrong at last is righted, justice done, 
peace secured, and the wicked confined to their proper 
place? If happiness and heaven were inconsistent with 
worlds of sin, suffering and woe, and with an active in- 
terest in such worlds, then we do not know that heaven 
ever could have existed. The Bible describes the oc- 
cupants of heaven as well informed and intensely inter- 
ested. When a world-calamity befell this plAnet, it was 
felt in heaven, and it at once hastened to' our relief. 
Not only are angels described as active in our behalf, 
studying, looking into the mystery of this ruin, and the 
work of redemption, and actively engaged in the work; 
but God did more than send the angels; he sent his only 
begotten Son, to save the world, or whatever might be 
saved. Thus the Bible describes heaven, and again as 
a multitude of witnesses, viewing with intense interest 
the struggle between right and wrong, joying in the 
very presence of God over one sinner that repents and 
is saved. We must therefore believe that the happiness 
of heaven is not saved by ignorance or indifference to 



Future Punishment. 121 

worlds of sin and woe; but if the battle is so strong that 
a single soul saved is counted a trophy worthy of great 
rejoicing, we may know that even omnipotence cannot 
do more than it has and is doing, and that sin and evil 
has a sovereignty of its own, which may be restrained, 
but cannot be forced into anything different from what 
it is, and that consequently heaven itself could not prevent 
its existence, as we know it to exist. As for the happi- 
ness of heaven, it may be built upon the same plan as 
happiness here; we should never be happy if we had to 
wait till there was absolutely no cause to the contrary. 
We are happy 'when the causes for joy preponderate. 
Heaven could not be actively interested in a world of 
sin and woe like this, without being touched by the 
shadow of its sorrow, but heaven may, on the other 
hand, have mighty causes for joy, which we can but 
faintly imagine. 

Arguments against hell are almost wholly addressed 
to human sympathies. It is easy to harp upon the 
chords of sympathy till every nerve cries out against hell, 
both present and future, but that does not alter the facts 
as we know them and have them revealed to us. Pain 
and distress, the awful and terrible, the ugly and loath- 
some meets us at every step, even though our sympathies 
cry out against them. Neither does it answer any bet- 
ter to couple this appeal with reference to God's love 
and mercy. We must interpret the love of God and his 
whole character, consistent with all the facts observable, 
and all the passages of Scripture, and not in the light of 
a single class of facts or passages. If our natural sym- 
pathies suffer, then we must conclude it is because there 
are moral considerations surpassing them in importance. 

When the only begotten of God came into this world, 



122 ChRISTIANITV AND OUR TiMES. 

as determined in the counsel of the Father, he did not 
undertake to disabuse us of any extravagant notion about 
sin and its consequences. He did not soothe us with 
the assurance that it was a phantasm that soon would 
disappear. He emphasized the fact both of sin and its 
woe, his love found its first expression in a call to re- 
pentance, only as sin was forsaken could hell be abated. 
At the beginning of his ministry in his sermon on 
the mount and often afterwards, he uses this expression, 
" Shall be cast into hell," and we do not need to look up 
the etymology of the word "heH"or its equivalent in the 
original, to find out what Christ understood by it, he ex- 
plains it fully if we wish for his opinion or teaching on 
the subject; he tells us that there "the worm dieth not 
and the fire is not quenched." Evidently he meant to 
impress upon his hearers the fact, that the fire of 
Gehenne, into which the wicked are cast, is not like the 
fires of this world, temporary and quenchable; likewise 
that the soul cast into it, is not like a worm easy shriveled 
up in a fire, but deathless. It is a contrast of what is 
eternal with things that are temporal, and the emphasis 
is on this fact. In other passages, he describes the 
hopeless despair of the place as that of " outer darkness, 
where there shall be weeping, wailing and gnashing of 
teeth." Here again we find the same emphasis, the 
darkness is the "outer" or uttermost, beyond which is 
nothing else, and the despair described characteristic of 
such a place. Those who wish to escape from the teach- 
ing of Christ on this subject, have gone so far as to call 
in doubt whether the words eternal, everlasting, forever 
and ever mean what they express, when used with refer- 
ence to the punishment of the wicked; but the teach- 
ing of Christ on this subject is everywhere a contrast 



Future Punishment. 123 

of what is temporal with what is eternal, and favor this 
meaning. Aside from this, the effort to make out eternal 
to be temporal when used with reference to the wicked, 
while in the very same passage it is allowed to be eternal 
when used with reference to the saved, is an effort that 
reduces interpretation to a mere science of evasion and 
equivocation. We sometimes nowadays use the words 
eternal, everlasting, etc., in poetry or slang phrases, and 
take liberties with their meaning; but whenever the 
meaning is appropriate to the subject, no such liberties 
can consistently be taken. But the teaching of Christ 
by contrasts makes discussion of these words superfluous, 
the eternal and hopeless state of the wicked is every- 
where emphasized. " Be not afraid of them that kill 
the body," says the Savior in one passage, "and after 
that have no more that they can do. But I will fore- 
warn you whom ye shall fear" — here again we mark 
the contrast and the peculiar emphasis laid upon it — 
" fear him which after he had killed had power to cast 
into hell; 3^ea, I say unto you, fear him." In the repre- 
sentative description of the rich man and Lazarus, we 
find the word Hades used in the larger sense, as the com- 
mon world of the dead, both good and bad, so far accom- 
modating himself to the ideas of the times, only he does 
not allow the idea of contiguity. He describes the 
good and bad, separated by a " great gulf," impassible 
and immutably fixed; Lazarus is seen " afar off. " The 
picture of Dives tormented in the flames, and the dialogue 
between him and father Abraham is familiar. The fact 
emphasized by Christ is that of unmitigated torment, 
without hope of escape. The day of judgment as set forth 
by Christ is a counterpart. " Depart from me, ye cursed, 
into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his an- 



124 Christianity and Our Times. 

gels." "And these shall go away into everlasting pun- 
ishment." The same hopelessness and endlessness is 
taught incidentally in the statement about sin against 
the Holy Ghost, which has no forgiveness, " either in 
this world nor in the world to come." Christ, so far 
from making his own suffering a substitute for the suffer- 
ing of all mankind, irrespective of character, warns us, 
that " if this is done in a green tree, what shall be done 
in the dry." The teaching of Christ in regard to the fut- 
ure punishment of the wicked, as referred to briefly, is 
not found in isolated passages; it is not aside for itself 
in a corner where it might easily be eliminated, it finds 
expression naturally in his general teaching ; it is referred to 
oftener and taught more fully than any other single doc- 
trine. It is taught by plain statements and illustrated in 
most of his parables. Perhaps there is nothing more sol- 
emnly impressive in any language than the way he sets forth 
the consternation and despair of wicked ones, who, de- 
ceived and unconscious of their damned state, come 
even as it were to the doors of heaven, only to be turned 
away with the " I know you not, depart." We find this 
in solemn statements, and illustrated by parables. 

Skeptical persons, that do not know the Bible, gen- 
erally imagine that the doctrine of future punishment has 
been derived from some of the minor characters of Bible- 
writers, perhaps the "stern old Prophets." There is 
unanimity on the part of Bible writers on the subject, but 
it is Jesus and John, the two supposed to be most tender- 
hearted, that have supplied the church with the ideas 
embodied in their theology and teaching about hell and 
future punishment; perhaps for the very reason that it 
should not be taught due to any peculiar harshness on 
the part of those who taught it. In our illustrated 



Future Punishment. • 125 

Bibles, we have a picture of John the Apostle in the 
form of a sentimental woman; this is the popular notion 
of divine love, but Christ knowing the character of John 
better, gave him the surname Boanerges — Son of Thun- 
der. In his book of Revelation, we have hell described 
as " a lake, burning with fire and brimstone," where " the 
smoke of their burning ascend forever and ever, and 
also as a " bottomless pit," a very suggestive figure of 
hopeless descend. No one can wish to dwell upon these 
utterances by Jesus and John, in order to add to their 
terror; neither should anyone dare to belittle the mean- 
ing embodied in them. 

It is not enough, however, that Christ declares and 
describes the state of the wicked after death, but such 
are actually brought before us in the history of his life 
and ministry in the shape of disembodied spirits, pos- 
sessed of the faculties of intelligence and character. 
They are called devils or demons. Where they came 
from, we do not know, but the fact that they found this 
earth a congenial place, and the minds and bodies of 
evil men fit mediums for their activity and influence, 
prove that they must have originated either in this world, 
or in some world like ours. The activity of dis- 
embodied wicked spirits is connected with the whole 
of Christ's ministry, from the time the devil came 
to him in the wilderness of his temptation, till 
he entered Judas before his betrayal. Many en- 
counters with them are related; Christ rebuked them, 
resisted them and cast them out. He asked them 
questions and they answered him. They showed intelli- 
gence and knowledge beyond that of men. They knew 
Christ and addressed him as " the holy one." "What 
have we to do with thee, art thou come to torment us?" 



126 . Christianity and Our Times. 

What had they to do with him: his message of mercy 
was evidently not for them; they never asked for it, 
neither did Christ offer it to them. It would have been 
a chance for restoration, if there ever was such a chance; 
but this is never hinted. The presence of Christ only 
filled them with rage and increased their malignity. Be- 
tween them and Christ there was nothing but incongruity 
and deadly antipathy. They expected a day of judg- 
ment, after which their liberty would cease and they 
would be confined to their proper place. Of this they 
reminded Christ, and sneeringly asked him if he had come 
to hasten the time. They evidently had a knowledge of 
the future, which men have not. 

Belief in disembodied spirits and their presence in 
this world has been common in all ages, and investiga- 
tions of modern times have tended to place the belief 
above that of a mere superstition, even in the opinion of 
those naturally skeptical. Only the most ignorant and 
bigoted treat the subject with a sneer. We may sup- 
pose that the very presence of Christ revealed the devils 
as they have not been revealed at any other time. Evil 
is always stirred by the presence of goodness. Antipa- 
thies declare themselves as well as affinities. We see exam- 
ples of this in a small way in-our every day life, evil men 
when brought into conflict with virtue and goodness, ex- 
hibit some of the rage, frenzy and gnashing of teeth. of 
the demons in Christ's time. The revelation of this to a 
higher degree is accounted for by the higher degree of 
antipathy, when the perfect holy comes into contact with 
the perfect wicked. Moreover, there was in and about 
Christ something of the other world, which the devils 
recognized, and which in a sense brought them on com- 
mon ground. For this reason we never notice either 



Future Punishment. 127 

surprise or fear on the part of Christ in his encounters 
with the devils. What we would regard as supernatural 
and be startled at, Christ meets as something with which 
he is perfectly familiar. It is the forces of the super- 
natural and invisible world that meet; Christ, belonging 
10 another world revealing himself in this, compels the 
devils to reveal themselves when they come into contact. 
Thus for a season the veil is lifted. 

These revelations from the spirit world teach that 
wicked persons live on after death and remain wicked. 
There is no expression of hope, either of restoration or 
annihilation, they take it for granted they will continue 
as they are, only fearing they will fare worse. If it were 
possible with God to annihilate evil spirits, then we would 
suppose Satan and the devijs would have been annihila- 
ted ages ago, seeing they have not only been of no use, 
but have wrought much harm. 

In comparing the teaching of Christ and the Bible 
on this subject with that of modern liberalism and the 
new theology we notice a sharp contrast. On the one 
hand there is an evident intention to set before men a 
solemn warning of the consequences of a wicked life to 
inspire them with terror at the possibilities that lie before 
them in their downward career. On the other hand 
there is an equally avowed effort to allay this terror, to 
contradict this warning, to minimize the danger and 
counteract the impression made by the Word of God. 
It is not a mere contradiction of words and passages, it 
is a plain contradiction of the spirit and teaching of the 
Bible on this subject. Of course they easily gain their 
object, for men do not like to face the result of a godless 
life. They are willing to be persuaded there is no hell, 
pr that it does not amount to much; the most superficial 



128 Christianity and Our Times. 

reasoning to this effect is apt to have more weight than 
the twofold revelation of the Bible and experience. The 
avidity with which they seize on such ways of escape 
as second probation, restoration or annihilation, rather 
than availing themselves of the one way of escape God 
has provided, is additional proof that they are deceiving 
themselves. When men flee from repentance and refor- 
mation to lay hold on such schemes, we may know 
that they are " refuges of lies." There is no end of efforts 
to provide the ungodly with such nowadays. Hell is not 
likely to be abated by these " refuges of lies " so indus- 
triously provided and seized upon with equal avidity. In 
the words of Scripture " ye have strengthened the hands of 
the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked 
way, by promising him life." 

No one should undertake to promise the impenitent 
a way of escape other than that God has provided, or a 
second chance besides the one God has set before us, un- 
less he can make good his promises. In taking upon 
himself the responsibility of promising the impenitent a 
second probation in the other world, does he know in 
fact that he can provide the impenitent with a second 
probation. The impenitent is quite likely to depend on 
the promise, for there is scarcely one of them but what 
like to put off their repentance and reformation at least 
as long as they think it safe. Dives asked for someone 
to be sent from the spirit world to warn his relations that 
there is no second probation, and that they had better do 
their repentance here: no one was sent, however, the 
answer was that Moses and the prophets are sufficient for 
anyone who will at all accept warning. The church has 
so considered in all ages. Those that have theories of a 
second probation have to go outside the Bible for them, 



Future Punishment. 129 

or at best depend on the science of evasion and equivo- 
cation. It is not merely that a great many passages are 
against it, but the whole tenor of the Bible is decidedly 
opposed to it. Sinners are warned in view of approach- 
ing death and judgment, after judgment the eternal 
"come '* or " depart;" warned in view of the possibility 
of "dying in their sins," this would not need the em- 
phasis Christ puts upon it, if they might repent of their 
sins and be saved after death; warned against hardening 
their hearts, for "to-day is the day of salvation," and the 
hardening process, we know from experience, is very 
rapid. " Watch," says Christ, "for ye know not what 
day or hour the Son of man cometh;" to be taken unpre- 
pared is, according to Christ, the loss of our chance; 
this it would not be if there was room for preparation in 
the world to come. But more than all, Christ brings be- 
fore us in parables and illustrations departed spirits, who 
seemingly did repent, or desired a chance to do so, but 
the door remained unopened, as in the parable of the 
foolish virgins, and those " many," who " in that day" 
should plead for entrance, but Christ represents himself 
as refusing their overtures and tells them to "depart." 
Neither does the Bible make any difference in favor of 
the heathen. St. Paul argues their case in the first chap- 
ter to the Romans, and comes to the conclusion that they 
are without excuse. " Fewer stripes," says Christ, " for. 
those that can plead ignorance, but the guilt essentially 
the same; all the guilt and much of the ignorance is will- 
ful; if they had loved the light, they would not have 
been walking all this time in darkness. The heathen 
world is very much like the rest of the world; it is true of 
them as of vast numbers in Christian lands, that they 
love the darkness which involves them. The church in 



I30 Christianity and Our Times. 

general believe that the atonement of Christ availed for 
all, and that those who feared God and worked right- 
eousness are accepted through Christ, although they have 
not heard of his life and death. But the Bible also teaches 
that although they may be saved without this knowledge, 
yet they are likely not to be, but may if it is brought to 
them. It clearly teaches that by our efforts, or our 
neglect, we may "save a soul from death," or cause 
someone to *' perish." "If thou dost not speak to save 
the wicked from liis way, that wicked man shall die in 
his iniquity." Scripture represents the servants of God 
as watchmen upon the walls of a city, to warn of 
impending danger; our second probationists are rather 
interested in proving to us that there is no immediate 
danger, but ** when they shall say. Peace and safety, then 
sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall 
not escape." 

While what is taught by Christ and the Bible in re- 
gard to the future of the wicked, all lies within the range 
of possibilities, and is only the degradation and pain in- 
volved in our nature, and which may be evolved in fut- 
ure ages; yet it is scarcely possible for human mind and 
nerve in our present state to entertain a vivid realization 
of it, or make it part of our consciousness. As a gen- 
eral thing, those that are confessedly least able to do so, 
are most forward with their interpretations and expla- 
nations. But the Amighty has put them under no obli- 
gation to explain it, much less of explaining it away. 
We may leave to Christ the responsibility of his own 
teaching. If we presume to teach the doctrine of Christ 
on this subject, we may do so in his very words, and 
should be particularly careful not to go beyond them, if 
mind ^nd heart is terrified and muddled on the question, 



Future Punishment. 131 

We can not read the Bible without being 
impressed by the fact that the sense of fear in 
man is very largely appealed to. What is natural 
in this respect has come to be looked upon with " 
much disfavor; it is supposed to be against the 
dignity of man to appeal to his sense of fear. Man, 
indeed, even at his worst, is capable of the con- 
ception of disinterested virtue; but the idea is rather an 
abstraction than a realization. Man has never seen 
virtue or vice, wrong or right, wholly apart from their 
legitimate consequences, and it would probably be im- 
possible in one's mind wholly to disassociate them. Man, 
even at his best, is not so impressed with the distinction 
between right and wrong, but what he may need to have 
it emphasized by the different results attending. And 
the measure of the distinction is seen in the infinite differ- 
ence between the extremes of the bottomless pit, to 
which he may descend, and the exaltation to which he 
may attain. This difference teaches the infinite distinc- 
tion between right and wrong, virtue and vice, and we 
perceive how much the one ought to be loved for its own 
sake, and the other abhorred. 

We are treating of fear as a motive in moral action; 
of course, there is a great deal of fear that is ignoble. 
We can imagine a state in which there would be no 
emotion of fear, but it is very certain that man is not in 
that state. He is not dignified above fear, unless he is 
raised above danger and pain, but these are the most famil- 
iar experiences of our world. Man is surrounded by ele- 
ments and forces, on which he depends for life and com- 
fort, but which may at any time overwhelm him with 
danger and pain, that he has neither power to resist nor 
strength to endure. His body is a marvel of sensitive- 



132 Christianity and Our Times. 

ness, physical pain may be produced, that one would not 
willingly submit to, even for a few minutes, to gain the 
joys of a lifetime. His mind and soul is equally sensi- 
tive; what agony of bereavement, of disappointed hopes, 
lost opportunities, wasted life, remorse; what depth of 
misery in a human look of anguish, or shriek of despair. 
Man has in his nature capacity for, pain and degradation, 
enough to overwhelm him with fear, if he realized it. 
The boasted courage of those that decry the motive of 
fear, is but the cowardice that dare not face the facts 
that are most common in life. Rational and scriptural 
fear is but the proper realization of these facts and the 
wisdom of it is in comprehending their meaning and 
profiting by the application. The purpose may be de- 
feated when the carnal mind refuses to yield to this wis- 
dom; in this case the subject may either drown his fear 
in dissipation, or the carnal mind may seek a refuge in 
fanaticism, and superstitious performings; he may assume 
a false zeal that would fain demontrate claims to piety 
and God's favor by the very crimes which God, above 
all things, abhors. 

Even in the true Scriptural sense, fear is not the 
noblest of emotions, neither is man, perverted, worldly 
and wicked at once capable of the noblest emotions. 
Fear must be the beginning of his wisdom, the rational 
fear of the Gospel, a sober apprehension of danger, a 
realization of the nature of sin and its consequences. 
This fear on the part of the sinner is the most natural 
and rational of all emotions, and is the foundation of all 
true work of spiritual awakening. Where it is lacking, 
repentance is lacking and the work is superficial. It is 
inspired, not necessarily by noise and fierceness, but by 
spiritual earnestness, combined with a faithful presenta- 



Future Punishment. 133 

tion of the facts of Revelation and Nature. In the series 
of great revivals between the latter part of the '20's and 
'57, in which Charles G. Finney was the leading spirit, 
we find it indicated in his sermons that special stress was 
laid upon three doctrines; first, the damnable nature of 
sin and its everlasting woe, the atonement of Christ a 
vicarious sacrifice for sin, the absolute need of regenera- 
tion and a holy character. The converts of these re- 
vivals constituted the marrow and sinews of the church 
for half a century, whole communities were morally re- 
generated, a moral stamina was evolved which made it 
possible to overthrow slavery, and came near doing the 
same with the liquor trafific. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE CHURCH AND THE LODGE. 

"They have run greedily after error.'' — Jude. 
" The carnal mind is enmity against God," says the 
Holy Scriptures;" " it is not subject to God's law, neither 
indeed can be." The law of God in its highest applica- 
tion, is spiritual, this the carnal mind fails to apprehend, 
it does not even perceive the relation and the obliga- 
tion, to which it ought to be subject; hence the suc- 
cess of false systems of religion, even in the presence of 
the true. The false systems may be either wholly out- 
side Christianity, or they may be perversions, even as 
Christianity has been perverted in all ages, eliminating 
the spiritual element, and retaining only what pertains to 
outward rules of conduct, coupled with rites and cere- 
monials to represent the spiritual. It is a striking fact 
that where Christianity has been sufficiently perverted 
to suit the carnal mind, there the American Secret So- 
ciety systems of religious symbolism and ceremonials 
are but little known; but here, where there is no State 
Church, and where the churches, at least to a large ex- 
tent, recognize the spiritual element' in Christianity, and 
in some measure insist on their requirements, here this 
kind of societies flourish to a surprising extent. Men 
must have some kind of religion, and if the state does 



The Church and the Lodge. 135 

not furnish the kind they want, they will see to it them- 
selves. 

Where secret societies do exist in foreign countries, 
they have generally some distinct object apart from the 
religious and social, sometimes opposition to civil or 
ecclesiastic tyranny. Thus, Freemasonry in Roman Cath- 
olic countries, has the avowed object of opposition to the 
encroachment of ecclesiastical authority, but here it ex- 
ists mainly for social and religious purposes, coupled, no 
doubt, with more or less distinct plans for mutual pro- 
tection and self-aggrandizement. What is true in this 
respect of Freemasonry is true of its various imitations 
too numerous to mention. 

The stress laid upon the religious feature of the 
lodge depends largely on the object in view, with which 
one has joined it. To some the social advantages are 
the main attractions; to others mutual help and insur- 
ance is a consideration; this should not be called bene- 
volence as it generally is, it is not benevolence to pay 
when an obligation has been incurred; the societies are 
in this respect no more benevolent than a common insur- 
ance society and often not so much so, for the lodges gen- 
erally spend more in keeping up the show than an insur- 
ance company does on running expenses. Professional 
men, including ministers of the Gospel, join the societies 
for professional advantages to advertise themselves and 
get custom. Politicians join them and run them as 
political machines. The timid join them for protection, 
and the aggressive to further their schemes; and here is 
one of the causes why "judgment standeth afar off, and 
justice doth not overtake " the transgressor. Justice 
must labor under disadvantages where the population 
is parceled up into secret societies, for whatever the 



136 Christianity and Our Times. 

avowed object of these societies, they can hardly fail to 
foster a spirit of clannishness and partiality unfavorable to 
an even balance and fair dealing. A secret society is a 
war measure, in a population united on the common 
ground of justice and patriotism, it could have no place; 
when found it must be an object of suspicion and lead to 
counter-societies organized in defense. But it is not 
our object to deal with this aspect of the question, but 
simply to view it from a religious point of view. 

Whatever of mixed motives there may be in joining 
these societies, or whatever regard one may have for the 
religion of the lodge, that this religion is a main feature 
and prominent characteristic is patent without any inves- 
tigation of their oft-revealed mysteries. So much is this 
the case that the societies may fairly be called religious 
institutions, with religious systems, their claims in this 
respect are scarcely a whit behind that of any church, 
and their religious features are as pronounced and well- 
defined. One may not take any stock in this religion 
but it is there all the same, and it is there to fill a want 
and answer a purpose, and undoubtedly it does answer 
the purpose of a religious system to the bulk of the mem- 
bers. Nearly half the population of the United States 
is outside the churches. The lodge may fairly be said 
to be their church, and its religion their dependence. 
And it fairly claims to fill this want and answer this pur- 
pose in every respect, as for instance when a Masonic 
manual of the highest authority says of the master mason 
after taking the third degree. " We now find man com- 
plete in morality and intelligence, with a stay of religion 
added, to insure him protection of the Deity and guard 
him against ever going astray. These three degrees 
thus form a perfect and harmonious whole, nor can we 



The Church and the Lodge. 137 

conceive that anything can be suggested more, which the 
soul of man requires." In a manual of the same lodge 
we read at the taking of the first degree: " There he 
stands without our portals on the threshold of his new 
Masonic life, in darkness, helplessness and ignorance, 
having been wandering amid the errors and covered over 
with the filth and pollutions of this outer and profane 
world, he comes inquiringly to our doors, seeking the 
new birth, and asking a withdrawal of the veil which 
conceals divine truth from his uninitiated right." To the 
professed Christian who joins the lodge this confession 
may not be wholly out of order, but in regard to the 
promises there is more doubt. Quotations like the 
above might be multiplied, but they will suffice to show 
the claims of the lodge as a soul-saving religion. It is 
practically the same in all the various imitations of Free- 
masonry. These claims find likewise expression in the 
symbolism and ceremonials of the lodge room. They 
have their temples, their chaplain, priests or grand high 
priest, prayers and confessions, or what answer to it in 
their initiation; their solemn rites and symbols illustrating 
their religious and moral teaching, and to crown it all, 
they have their grand lodge above, where they promise 
to meet, and their solemn funeral rites, where the de-- 
parted is speeded on his way to said upper lodge with 
much prayer and ceremony. In the words of the quota- 
tion, " what more can be suggested which the soul of 
man requires" if the claims and pretensions are well- 
founded then what is provided is sufficient, if they are 
not well founded then it is a serious mockery. 

It has been objected by some that Christ's name is 
generally omitted from their prayers and teaching, and 
in some instances purged from the Bible they use. As 



138 Christianity and Our Times. 

an objection against the religion of the lodge it is not 
well taken. In that they refrain from mixing the name 
of Christ with their service and worship, they do well, it 
would only be added blasphemy to use it in connection 
with it, and the use of it would certainly not make it any 
the more Christian. The mere use of the name of Christ 
in prayers and ritual does not constitute Christianity or 
a church. 

It is said by naturalists that man is a religious ani- 
mal, he will and must have some religion; if the true 
does notsuit, false ones will be invented. And yet it is not 
to be supposed that these false religions will have noth- 
ing whatever of truth and beauty about them. Man, in 
his fallen state, has a complex nature, he is not a devil 
even when he is not a saint. While his mind is carnal 
and does not comprehend spiritual truths in their highest 
application, yet he can appreciate moral qualities and the 
beautiful in character. If we should suppose the spirit 
of this world to plan a religion to suit this complex na- 
ture, how would he go to work; he would not produce a 
system of which nothing good could be said, that would 
offend the natural taste of man by its very ugliness. If 
Satan himself should come among us would he come with 
horns and hoof protruding, does he wish to alarm us, 
would he not rather come " arrayed like an angel of light?" 
And if this, who is called a " murderer from the begin- 
ning" should attempt to poison the minds and hearts of 
the children of men, would he present the poison unadul- 
terated, admitting it to be such, would he not rather dis- 
guise it in some semblance of truth? Satan is a fisher 
of man, but he does not expect him to bite on the naked 
point, some bait must envelop it. 

But suppose, again, that the spirit of this world 



The Church and the Lodge. 139 

should wish to invent a religion for the children of this 
world, how would the secret society system as repre- 
sented by Freemasonry answer. It is not unadulterated 
moral poison — there is a semblance of truth about it. 
The ugliness is not so exposed but what the veriest 
worldling might mistake it for the beauty of an angel of 
Hght. Indeed, it is generally said to be beautiful, that is, 
the symbols, ritual, etc. There is something for the world- 
ling to bite on besides the naked hook. There is mo- 
rality enough to satisfy any respectable worldling, and re- 
ligion enough to suit his tastes and appetites. Besides 
this, there are titles, distinctions and honors; the lodge 
has raked together everything of this, sort in the whole 
wide world, civil and ecclesiastic, it is all at the disposal 
of the lodge, as though its evil spirit perfectly understood 
the ridiculous vanity and pride of men and was willing 
to gratify them to the utmost. Is it one reason why the 
lodge mania is worse in America than elsewhere, because 
our democratic institutions do not furnish enough of this 
glitter and show to suit the natural craving of a depraved 
appetite. 

The Christian religion teaches that the world is cor- 
rupted and estranged from God, is drifting away from 
God with a tendency so strong that humanity unaided 
could not resist it, nor be saved from the inevitable re- 
sult of this drifting. They are possessed and ruled by a 
spirit adverse to God, and which can have no fellowship 
with God; hence, unless man is changed and the tendency 
of his life set in the opposite direction, he will be lost to 
God and heaven eternally. Man is sufficiently depraved 
to be helpless in himself to effect this change unaided, 
but God has done what he could to help us. He has 



140 Christianity and Our Times. 

revealed himself in this world both by his Son and by 
his Spirit. The first, a visible revelation both of God's love 
and justice bringing about conditions that make it possi- 
ble for man to be saved in harmony with the require- 
ments both of love and justice. The revelation of God's 
Spirit in this world is a felt presence and conscious 
power, having access to the hearts and minds of men, 
and may change heart and mind when open to this in- 
fluence, this change the Bible calls regeneration or con- 
version, it has been brought about when man is ruled by 
God's Spirit, when he recognizes his relation to God as a 
child to his father, and is conscious of communion with 
God. The Bible makes a sharp distinction between 
those that are regenerated and those that are not, it is 
the children of God and the children of light in contrast 
with the children of this world and of darkness. What- 
ever may be the possibilities of good in these latter in 
their natural unsaved state they are called " dead in 
trespasses and sins," "their understanding darkened be- 
cause of sin that dwelleth in them"; they are not conscious 
of, neither do they perceive the spiritual relation of God 
to his children. Christ and his apostles formed the re- 
generated children of God into a brotherhood called the 
church. It was meant to be a visible union based on the 
spiritual union which exists between God's children. 

Remembering this radical distinction referred to 
above, we may appreciate the force of the words of an 
Apostle when he says: " Be ye not unequally yoked to- 
gether with unbelievers, for what fellowship had right- 
eousness with unrighteousness, and what communion had 
light with darkness, what concord had Christ with Belial, 
or what part had he that believed with an infidel — where- 



The Church and the Lodge. 141 

fore come out from among them and be ye separate.' 
Consider one of these supposed children of God, a broth- 
er in their brotherhood, finding their companionship in- 
sufficientor unsatisfactory, joining abrotherhood of those 
the Bible calls the children of this world and of darkness. 
Having had his mind enlightened by the Spirit of God, 
he nevertheless seeks knowledge and light in the lodge 
of those the Scriptures represent as having their under- 
standing darkened because of sin that dwelled in them. 
Having, in the words of Scripture, tasted the heavenly 
gift and been made partaker of the Holy Ghost, " having 
tasted the good word of God and the power of the world 
to come," he nevertheless develops an unaccountable 
taste for the fooleries of the lodge. Supposed to know 
and enjoy the true religion of Christ, he presents himself 
to the lodge for new light, and takes up with the religious 
show of those the Word calls " dead in trespasses and 
sins." 

But the lodge has foreseen that objections of this 
sort might arise, and it stands ready with this promise to 
the candidate to be initiated, that the obligations to 
which he has to submit will not interfere with the duties 
he owes to God, his family and the State. It is a good 
deal to take the word of the lodge for this, for in doing 
so we allow them to define for us what are the duties we 
owe to God and our fellowmen. The obligations direct, 
and what is involved, cannot be fully disclosed before- 
hand for that is part of the secret, but they are definite 
and unchangeable, the same for all who join. The prom- 
ise of the lodge therefore amounts to this, that in their 
own opinion, there is nothing about the obligations con- 
trary to our duties as patriots and Christians. Even a 
worldly man with a high sense of honor might well 



142 Christianity and Our Times. 

pause before he allows the lodge to determine for him 
what are his duties, and how they would be affected by 
the lodge obligations, for in doing so he practically sur- 
renders his own judgment and conscience. But to the 
Christiana radical difficulty arises, he professes that by his 
conversion and consequent illumination by the Holy 
Ghost, he has received new light concerning his duties 
toward God and his fellowmen, and must henceforth 
measure them by a different standard from that of the 
world. The lodge may consist of respectable moral peo- 
ple, but they are not the church of God's regenerated 
children, they are what Christ calls " the world," and in 
spite of respectability the Bible declares them " dead in 
trespasses and sin," who " do not discern the things of 
the spirit of God." When the professed Christian there- 
fore, allows them to determine for him what are his du- 
ties toward God and his fellowmen he renounces his own 
claim to spiritual illumination, and allows those to be his 
teachers who according to his faith are wholly unable to 
judge of his duties toward God and his fellowmen. In 
acknowledging the " Worshipful Master" of the lodge he 
practically renounces Christ, who said one is your Master 
and no one can serve two. In joining a brotherhood of 
the children of this world he slights the brotherhood of 
God's children, for, according to his faith, the two are as 
distinct as light and darkness. 

But perhaps he does not perceive this distinction, 
his church is .in such a state that there is apparently little 
difference. This would not affect his obligation as a 
Christian; he must recognize the church,, and the dis- 
tinction between it and the world as it is set before him 
in the Word of God. If the church is not what it ought to 
be he must labor to make it; if others are not what they 



The Church and the Lodge. 143 

ought to be it does not relieve him from the obligation 
of being what Christ requires. 

But it may be he joins them as a mere matter of 
stratagem; he hopes to do them good, to bring them into 
the church. To put himself in a false position for the 
sakeof this would be a serious fraud, involving a great 
deal of lying. And the expectation would not be reas- 
onable, for in joining them he endorses them and their 
institution as good enough for him and them. He ac- 
knowledges not only that they are good enough, but bet- 
ter than himself, for he has to assume the place of a nov- 
ice or disciple and accept them as teachers and masters. 
But members of the lodges are largely members of 
the churches, the minister himself may be a member, and 
they are all pronounced good and efficient in church work. 
There are many standards of goodness, and one may be 
good whether a Pagan or Jew, a Christian or an infidel, 
but if what is popularly known as being " good " is all that 
is required, then the Christian religion would be a super- 
fluity, for it is well known that men can be good in this 
sense without it. It would also, in this case, be mistaken, 
for it does not admit that this "goodness" is good 
enough. 

A minister though a lodge member may be success- 
ful in church work, neither grace nor faith is needed for 
this kind of success, and some of our churches look as 
though they had been built up by unsanctified hands and 
"untempered mortar." Success in winning souls to 
Christ cannot be too highly commended, but the church 
is apt to fall into the error of the world, and worship suc- 
cess no matter of what kind or how achieved. It is not 
true, however, that as ageneral thing they are successful 
in building up churches, even though they are willing to 



144 Christianity and Our Times. 

build them up in any way and by any means. Only a 
very small per centage of our young men are in the 
churches, the bulk of them are in the lodges and the sa- 
loons. 

The secret lodge system is practically one, they are 
all sprouts from the same. root. The minor orders that 
have a more well-defined purpose, such as temperance, 
patriotism, insurance, etc., may indeed make it a real 
object to work for such purposes, but on moral and re~ 
ligious ground they are open to the same objections as 
Freemasonry, of which they are imitations. They con- 
stitute themselves distinct brotherhoods, which is not 
that of Christ, they have their grand masters more or 
less supreme, they all have religious rituals, chaplains, 
prayers, and a grand lodge above where they meet each 
other after death on the ground of lodge fellowship and 
faithfulness to the lodge while on earth. There is yet a 
verse of an old temperance hymn ringing in our ears that 
we used to sing in a temperance society, which, although 
open, had some of the belongings of the lodge; it runs 
thus: " Eorever then forever, pure water be our cry — till 
over Jordan's river, we pass triumphantly. Then where 
in scenes of glory, where Eden's waters flow we will tell 
our temperance story ofheaven begun below." Prettyin 
words, but false in sentiment; we passed over Jordan's 
river triumphantly on the strength of the single virtue of 
temperance. We did not "sing the song of Moses and the 
Lamb" beyond the river, but simply our temperance story; 
our heaven begun on earth to be continued above, rested 
on the sole virtue of temperance. Secret societies, one 
and all, express the same kind of sentiment in hymns, 
ritual, and direct teaching. It has become a '* stock in 
trade " argument with the minor orders to defend their 



The Church and the Lodge. 145 

religious parade by the custom in Congress and like 
bodies to open a session with prayer, but the analogy is 
lacking in the most essential parts. A body of men calls 
a Christian minister to offer a Christian prayer in his ca- 
pacity as a Christian minister, the lodge does not do this, 
they have one duly qualified in his capacity as lodge 
brother, he need not be a Christian either nominally or 
in fact, all the religion required of him is that of the 
lodge. He represents this religion in his prayers and 
otherwise in his capacity as chaplain, he offers his prayer, 
not in the capacity of a Christian brother or minister, but 
in that of a lodge brother and in harmony with the relig- 
ious system of the lodge, be it what it will. There is as 
marked distinction between this and Christianity as there 
is between it and any other distinct system of rehgion. 



• CHAPTER X. 

DOCTRINE OF SANCTIFICATION. 

•' It is written, Be ye holy for I am holy." — Peter. 
When a soul has surrendered itself to the power of 
the Holy Spirit and is regenerated, it is believed by 
Christians that this power continues and that its effect 
is a sanctifying influence under which a soul is perfected 
in the likeness of God. About this process of sanctifi- 
cation, there are two theories among Protestants, and 
the Catholics have one of their own. One party among 
Protestants believe that the process is gradual, the end 
or perfection of which they do not profess to be able to 
lay their hands on and say — here is it. This party 
points to passages in the Bible that speak of " growth in 
grace and the knowledge of the Lord," " growing up into 
a perfect manhood," the kingdom of God within the soul 
or abroad in the world, like a leaven working gradually, 
or like a plant developing "first the blade, then the ear, 
and afterwards the full corn in the ear." A smaller but 
considerable party -among the Protestants; while they 
believe the process may be gradual, at the same 
time hold, that it may be dispensed with altogether, and 
the soul at once by an act of faith and prayer become 
entirely sanctified or perfected. This absolute work in 
the soul they describe as something like a second regen- 
eration, for which reason they sometimes call it a second 



Doctrine of Sanctification. 147 

conversion, second blessing, etc. Their main depend- 
ence is passages in the Bible where entire sanctification 
or perfection is set before us as a standard after which 
we must strive, or an object for our aim and attainment. 
The fact that it seems to be required is to them sufficient 
reason for believing it can be attained, and they demand 
to know if God has set before us a goal that is unattain- 
able. 

The Catholic doctrine of sanctification is more com- 
plex. The peculiarity of this church, in its care to relieve 
lay members of responsibility except toward the church, 
finds expression in their doctrine of sanctification. Lay 
members are relieved of the ancient obligation of saint- 
ship which the Bible imposes on all, and in place thereof 
a certain class in the church is endued with the character 
and office of saints. It is believed that these may not 
only go far in the process of sanctification, but go farther 
than there is any need of. A capacity for this may at 
first seem incredible, but when we remember the Catholic 
standard of morality as it was in the middle ages, and as 
it still is in Catholic countries, we' may not wonder that 
some have been considered more than good enough. 
This superfluity of goodness is thought to be deposited 
with the church, and those who have come short of the 
required standard may obtain what they want for a con- 
sideration. Adoration of, and prayer to these departed 
saints, become in order also for the purpose of becoming 
partaker in their merits and intercessions. It was around 
this very point that the reformation started: the church 
happened to be unusually hard up for money, and offered 
to sell out morality and the fear of God entirely to get 
the needed cash; this provoked the righteous soul of 
Luther, and the spell was broken. Protestants differ 



148 Christianity and Our Times. 

from the Catholic Church in this, that they beHeve God 
is abundantly rich in grace and mercy, and does not need 
to make merchandise for the poor virtues of doubtful 
saints in order to supplement his own infinite resources, 
and that he utterly refuses to divide his power, honor 
and worship with Catholic saints or anyone else. The 
Catholic Church has a place in their creed for grace, faith 
and repentance, but it is difficult to determine just where 
it comes in, with merits of saints, merits worked out by 
penances, merits purchased of the priest, final absolution 
and purgatory, there seems little need of anything fur- 
ther to make sure of salvation. 

The Catholics not only believe in partial but in entire 
sanctification, so much so that they profess none can enter 
heaven without it. Here was an opportunity for an in- 
fallible church with a purpose in view. God had not re- 
vealed what he would do with the infirmities that might 
cling to the Christian as he departed this world, perhaps 
he did not think it was necessary for us to know, but the 
church was equal to the occasion; they supplemented 
the revelation of the Almighty with a plan of their own 
in the shape of a purgatory, where imperfect saints 
might be perfected in purifying fires. As a financial 
speculation, purgatory has been a great success, there is 
money in the saying of masses for afflicted souls, but 
otherwise it is not known that anyone has had use for 
the invention. 

The object in view in redemption is plainly to pro- 
duce a character in man that shall make him fit for 
heaven and its company, fit for God and his glory. This 
he can only be as he resembles God in thought, feeling, 
desire and final purpose. The sum of this character is 
called holiness. Character, we know, is a personal mat- 



Doctrine of Sanctification. 149 

ter, it cannot be purchased or earned, it must be devel- 
oped or wrought out. God and man may help us to 
make character, but none can impose it upon us as a 
gift or compliment, the help and influence from God may 
be in the nature of free gifts, graces and favors unde- 
served, and as natural in their operation upon our mind 
and heart, as that of an earthly friend in his efforts to 
help and influence us. Those influences alone cannot 
produce character, it must depend on the use we make 
of them, but taken together, the various influences and 
the way we choose to resist or yield to them will result 
in character, be it what kind it will. God represents 
himself in the Bible as working in many ways and by 
various means to produce his own character or likeness 
in us. He has, in the first place, revealed his character 
to us in his only begotten Son sent into the world. 
Christ revealed the character of God in a two-fold man- 
ner: first, by his life and example, and in an equal degree 
by the revelation of God's love and justice in the plan of 
redemption. The record of this whole revelation of 
Christ in this world we have in the Bible and nowhere 
else. Also, here we have recorded all that led up to the 
coming of Christ and what followed after as the comple- 
ment, the revelation of God through the prophets and 
apostles, with instructions, exhortations and warnings, 
both to believe in God s revelation of himself and act in 
harmony with our faith. But the Bible also teaches that 
the Spirit of God is abroad in the world, that he has 
access to the minds and hearts of men, even of those that 
have not yielded to his influence; but he is said to dwell 
with those that have surrendered themselves to his power 
and guidance. Moreover, the Bible teaches that God 
may affect and influence us by his providence in this 



150 Christianity and Our Times. 

world, trials and afflictions as well as blessings and what- 
ever belong to the discipline of life is ascribed to God. 
Both saint and sinner is subject to this discipline, to the 
one a means of bringing to repentance, to the other a 
help in the process of sanctification. These trials are 
spoken of as purifying fires; " I have chosen them in the 
furnace of affliction," " He shall purge them as silver is 
purged." We may say that there is yet a fourth way in 
which God works both for the salvation of sinners and 
the sanctification of Christians, it is by the church. 
Those that are indeed God's children are a sanctifying 
power in the world. 

In making mention of perfection, a kind of perfection 
is implied in the fact of being a Christian. In being 
converted our will must have been made perfect to love 
and serve the Lord. Though our love and service may 
not be perfect, our purpose must be. We must be per- 
fectly sincere. Without this perfect consecration of the 
will there can be no conversion. But although the will 
is thus sanctified and consecrated, our thoughts, desires, 
imaginations and affections may not be so perfectly sub- 
ject to it as to make them perfect. And this, in like 
manner, is true of our judgment. Although this is not 
in the strictest sense part of our moral nature, yet our 
moral nature and all our acts are affected by it, and un- 
less it is perfect our moral nature cannot be. Even as 
St. Paul speaks of the understanding being darkened by 
sin that dwelleth in us, this is written more especially with 
reference to the unconverted, but this darkened under- 
standing is not at once made perfect by conversion. The 
need of a sanctifying influence in all parts of our being 
is again emphasized by St. Paul when he prays to God 
that our whole being, soul, body and spirit, may be 



Doctrine of Sanctification. 151 

sanctified and blameless, A quickening of our intellect- 
ual powers is always noticed in any true conversion, 
sometimes as remarkable as the moral change. 

This sanctification of the whole being is a develop- 
ment or process. It is not accomplished by any single 
means or act, be it either faith or prayer. We read that 
gifts, or special power for a special purpose, was imparted 
at once by the Holy Spirit, generally in connection with 
prayer and the laying on of hands, but never that a per- 
fect character or entire sanctification was thus imparted. 
The higher regions of the soul's development is not 
reached in a single leap or bound. There is no short cut 
by which the struggles and strivings, the discipline and 
labors of soul, mind and heart can be dispensed with. The 
noblest traits of character, and the well balanced symmet- 
rical whole, is not produced at once by the excitement of 
a holiness meeting. Faith and prayer and meetings are 
indeed means in the process; so is truth, " sanctify us 
by thy truth " so is the various discipline of life, to which 
much efficacy is ascribed in the Bible, and so in short is 
everything that tends to make us better. 

Aboutperfection in the absolute sense, it is not wise 
for us to pretend to know. Man with his finite mind does 
not comprehend what is absolute. Perfection once 
walked the earth, but was mistaken for a criminal and 
hanged on a tree. In a relative sense, men are sometimes 
said to be perfect, as Job who is said to have been a per- 
fect man and one that feared God, perfect in the sense 
that no serious fault could be found about him. His 
own estimate of man's perfection in comparison with God's 
absolute perfection is such that in the presence of it, he 
exclaims "I am vile." And he confessed " how should 



152 Christianity and Our Times. 

man be just with God, if he will contend with him, 
he cannot answer him one of a thousand." Men are 
proverbially prone to overlook their own faults, they have 
need of praying with David " cleanse thou me from secret 
faults, keep back also thy servant frompresumptuous sin." 
If we fail to see our secret faults, we may have the pre- 
sumption to believe ourselves perfect, but in yiew of the 
flaws and faults so apparent to others, the claim of per- 
fection or entire sanctification is generally pitiable. A 
Christian who might be honored and respected if betakes 
his place in humility, and leaves it to others to judge of 
his attainments by his fruit, will be ridiculous when he 
makes pretention to a perfection the imperfection of which 
is apparent to all. Many who claim that they have been 
converted twice over, may be glad if they can make out- 
siders believe they have been converted once for good. 

Yet there are higher degrees of Christian experience 
and greater excellencies of character than the lowest 
compatible with a state of grace. The heights and depths 
of the possibilities of character and of Christian attain- 
ments reach into the infinite, and are lost to view from 
earthly sight. No doubt Christians have sometimes had 
wonderful revelations of these possibilities, and their 
testimony to a sudden or great enlargement may well 
be believed, for the process of sanctification is not smooth 
and even through life; sometimes a crisis will occur when 
our powers are stirred to the utmost, a great trial to be 
endured, a severe conflict of temptation to be overcome, 
or a great work to be accomplished; when one comes out 
victorious from such a conflict, then there is a sudden and 
great enlargement which some may have mistaken for the 
whole of it, but after all it is only a quickening step in the 
process, the springtime, as it were, in our spiritual de- 



Doctrine of Sanctification. 153 

velopment, but every wind and every season should help 
to bring forward the process. 

Undoubtedly, perfection even in the absolute sense 
is set before us in the Bible as the standard after which 
we must strive, God could do nothing less, and man may 
do nothing less. The alternative of a perfect standard is 
one that is imperfect, and neither God nor man could set 
before us an imperfect standard to aim after. We must 
have a perfect pattern to work after whether or not we 
can perfectly imitate it. It will not do in this case to say 
our aims or our striving is fruitless or unreasonable unless 
perfection can be attained to, for everything does not de- 
pend on this definite result. If a soul is converted he is 
according to the faith of all saved, his salvation is not 
staked at the perfection he is told to strive for. Moreover 
his striving and his efforts in the process of his Christian 
life is not in vain, is not lost, even though he may not 
attain to absolute or entire sanctification. Every step to- 
wards perfection, every struggle for a higher life, is a def- 
inite gain. This striving to better ourselves without gain- 
ing what is absolute or perfect is natural to our earthly 
life; who does not strive for perfect health of body, yet a 
body absolutely perfect in all respects can hardly be 
hoped for. And so in our struggle for development of 
mind, we would set before our aim nothing less than a 
perfect mind, perfectly developed, even though the full 
attainment would not be within our reach. 

For a Christian to speak of entire sanctification can 
mean nothing less than the perfection of his whole being; 
his will must already have been entirely sanctified and 
consecrated in his conversion, if this has not been done, 
then what is before him is conversion not the end of 
sanctification. One must surrender his will without re- 



154 Christianity and Our Times. 

serve to God before he is in any sense a child of God or 
a saved man. Yet, we often find that the perfection 
which perfectionists are striving for, and which they are 
content with, is something very imperfect; and what they 
call entire sanctification is far from being entire. But 
these terms "perfect" or ** entire " should not be used 
unless the whole was meant, it is idle to use these and 
then begin to plead for allowances and immunities. En- 
tire sanctification of our whole body, soul and spirit, 
blameless as the apostle expresses it, means not only that 
our will should be perfect to serve the Lord, it means 
that we must be perfect in every detail, our love, faith, 
hope, patience, and humility must be perfect; every 
thought, feeling, desire and imagination must be perfect; 
and, indeed, our judgmentmust be perfect or it will play 
havoc with our moral perfection. 

The greatest objection to the theory under consid- 
eration is that it tends to destroy what those who advance 
it profess to be particularly anxious to build up, thatis, 
holiness. According to the Bible there are only two 
classes of people, saints and sinners, converted or uncon- 
verted, saved or lost. The perfectionists make three dis- 
tinct classes, the entirely sanctified constitute a class of 
superlative saints, something after the manner of the 
Catholic church, which are especially the embodiment of 
holiness. Below these there is a class to which salvation 
is accorded on lower ground, and this ground, beingTow- 
erthan that of the first class, has a tendency to be very 
low, and we often hear the complacency with which some 
church members profess to be saved, but lay no claim to 
sanctification, and evidently consider it a mere adjunct to 
the Christian life that may be dispensed with without 
much harm. 



Doctrine of Sanctification. 155 

Holiness is a necessity for all, not a luxury for a few. 
*' Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." If one 
is not converted to a holy life and character, what is the 
effect of his conversion; he was carnal before, if nothing 
more can be said of him now, then his faith is vain, faith 
is dead and vain if it is not a means to holiness, and if 
this has not become the result of it. First a sanctihed 
will without which there is neither true faith nor justifi- 
cation, and afterwards a sanctifying process to which our 
thoughts, desires and affections, every detail of life and 
character should be subjected. Holiness, or similarity 
of character to God, being the end and object of every- 
thing in and about religion, associations for the promo- 
tion of holiness as a special work outside the church, be- 
comes a misnomer. An association for the promotion of 
holiness is a church, if a church is not an association for 
the promotion of holiness it is nothing. 



CHAPTER XI. 

SUNDAY AND THE ADVENTISTS. 

** The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for 
the Sabbath. "—Christ. 

The Adventists are a small flock, but exceedingly 
active. They have imposed their peculiar Sabbath ques- 
tion upon the church, in spite of the utmost reluctance 
to consider it. If an answer has to be given it is of im- 
portance that it should be truthful. They have sprung 
their question upon the church on many occasions, when 
those that should give an answer have been unprepared 
or misinformed, and the answer has been such as has 
left the advantage of truth and correctness with the 
Adventists. 

If intimations of the change are found in the New 
Testament, they would amount to scriptural proof and 
evidence only as it could be proven that the apostles in- 
augurated it. Their example or direct teaching would 
be sufficient, for we believe they had authority in all 
matters pertaining to the organization of the church 
together with rules and doctrines for its guidance. But 
it seems at best doubtful that this can be established. 
It appears rather that the change began with the usual 
custom of keeping a holiday in memory of great persons 
or great events, which finally took the place of the old 
Sabbath day. Some who have very incoherent ideas 



Sunday and the Adventists. 157 

about the relation of law and gospel, new dispensation 
and old, etc., find an argument in this relation for the 
change of days, but the supposed relation is fanciful, and 
the conclusion arbitrary. Others, again,* when hard 
pressed, will plead tradition and church authority with a 
zeal that would out-catholic the Catholics. How hard 
it is even for the best of men to be perfectly honest. 

It is true that the commandment concerning the 
Sabbath is not a necessity of our moral nature like the 
other commandments. We would know it were 
wrong to steal, murder and commit adultery even if there 
were no commandments, but we would not know it were 
wrong to labor on the seventh day without a revelation 
from the Almighty. But we can understand the reason 
and importance of the command when given, and in 
placing it among the moral commandments of the law, 
God has signified that he holds it equally binding with 
these. It can not, therefore, have passed away with the 
types and ordinances connected, with the ancient temple 
service, which had their fulfillment at the coming of 
Christ, it must remain in force with the moral law of 
which it is made a part according to the revealed will of 
God. There were holidays connected with the ancient 
system of temple service, others than the seventh day 
Sabbath, these are sometimes referred to in the Old 
Testament as sabbaths, we must believe St. Paul refers 
to them in the same way, when he makes mention of 
holidays and sabbaths that are not binding upon the 
conscience, and of which he tells his converts that their 
observance is a matter of no moral significance. Christ 
and his apostles observed the Sabbath according to the 
spirit and letter of the commandment, the superfluities 
and impositions of the Pharisees he denounced as he did 



158 Christianity and Our Times. 

their inventions and misinterpretations of the Scriptures 
in general. 

Perhaps the best defence in favor of the change, if 
defence is attempted, would be the general object of it — 
that of honoring Christ, " He that honors the Son, honors 
the Father also." The Adventists, however, might 
answer to this, that God has a right to prescribe how he 
will be honored, and that it is safest to keep within the 
letter of the law. This certainly would be true if by do- 
ing so we can best observe the spirit of the law. When 
we speak of the spirit of the law, we mean the gen- 
eral intention. Of course this can never be under- 
stood without the letter of the law, strictly speaking 
there is no spirit of the law without the letter. But it is 
possible to lay peculiar stress upon certain details of the 
letter of the law and by doing so contradict or violate the 
general intent of it. Occasions may even arise when it 
is necessary to infringe upon certain details of the letter 
in order the better to carry out the intent of the law. 
An occasion of this kind undoubtedly exists at present 
with regard to the Sabbath. In order to keep it and 
make it a general benefit as intended by the command- 
ment, it is above all things necessary that Christians 
should agree upon one dciy. It is true, now, more than 
ever, that " no man liveth to himself" — we are dependent 
upon each other in nearly every field of effort. The great 
manufacturing establishments cannot be run unless all, or 
nearly all, agree to work. If essential disagreement 
about the day to be kept as Sabbath should exist, then 
neither of the days disagreed about could be used for 
work, the consequence probably would be that both 
would be used, and the Sabbath ruled out altogether, 
this would be the case unless religious regard for the 



Sunday and the Adventists. 159 

Sabbath should become much greater than is now the 
case among vvorkingmen. The same interdependence 
exists in the commercial world, and even among farmers, 
especially in the busiest season, unless all agree to work 
together there can be no work, and unless all agree to 
keep Sabbath together, in most cases none would be 
kept. The Adventists would undoubtedly attempt to 
brush aside these considerations simply by pointing to 
the fact that the strict letter requires Saturday. But we 
should insist upon the whole of the commandment and 
not that part of it only that pertains to the particular day, 
and if we have to choose, then we should insist upon the 
more important part of it. We should persist in inquir- 
ing what is the real object of the commandment; is it 
that of commemorating a certain day, event or person? 
the answer is, no, even as Christ said " the Sabbath was 
made for man," for his benefit, no doubt, physically, 
morally and in everyway. The main question therefore, 
is to secure to man this benefit, if it can better be secured 
by continuing the accustomed day which nearly all agree 
to keep then it should be continued. The lesser consid- 
eration of a particular day must not be brought into con- 
flict with the higher consideration of securing the benefit 
intended. As has already been pointed out, this benefit 
is largely dependent upon an agreement to keep one day, 
this agreement exists now among Christians excepting a 
small fraction of a per cent. 

To endanger the higher consideration that of the 
benefit to be secured on account of the lesser considera- 
tion, that of a particular day, is not only indefensible on 
the ground of reason, but it is against certain well-de- 
fined and positive rules laid down in the Scriptures. We 
are not to allow matters of circumstances to defeat a true 



i6o Christianity and Our Times. 

or real benefit, the particular day is a circumstance, the 
benefit of the day is real and true. " For meat destroy 
not the work of God," says St. Paul; this principle ap- 
plied to our question would be: for the sake of a cir- 
cumstance in keeping the Sabbath, destroy not the Sab- 
bath itself and the benefit derived from it. 

There is danger indeed that this principle be applied 
where it does not belong, as it often is, in these days of 
license and liberalism. It can be applied only to what is 
circumstantial, not to what has a moral side or character 
to it. Those who claim liberty or license to indulge in 
bad habits, in doubtful amusements or associations on the 
ground of this principle deceive themselves and do not 
discriminate. There is no excuse in the Word of God or 
anywhere for anything that may do damage to character 
and endanger morals, and no one may disclaim censure 
and judgment upon acts of any moral significance. When 
St. Paul says: " let us not therefore judge one another" 
it is not implied that we may dispense with moral consid 
erations in any way, and while doing so claim immunity 
from the judgment and censure both of God and our fel- 
lowmen. Or when he says, " follow after that which 
make for peace;" it is not implied that truth and right- 
eousness, even in the last degree, maybe sacrificed for 
the sake of peace; we may sacrifice our prejudices, our 
convenience and self-interests for the sake of peace, but 
the truth and righteousness of God it is not ours to dis- 
pose of on this or any other account. If in keeping Sun- 
day instead of Saturday, we sacrifice a letter of the law, 
it is not done to appease a clamor, but for the sake of the 
essential truth of the commandment, and its practical 
application. 



CHAPTER XII. 

SOCIOLOGY AND CRIME. 

" Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil." — Isaiah. 

Modern Sociologists have invented two terms, here- 
dity and environment, around which they have woven 
a creed that has well nigh revolutionized the thought and 
and sentiment of the age. It is not, indeed, a new doc- 
trine that birth and surrounding circumstances power- 
fully influence the individual, but modern science goes 
farther, it analyzes the human body and fails to discover 
a soul, but it finds that body, brain and nerve consti- 
tute a machine, acted upon by extraneous influence, 
which produces thought, feeling and action, and the net 
result we call character, together with what destiny at- 
taches to it. Free moral agency and responsibility are 
modes of speech. Our volitions are free as the motion 
of wheels in a clockwork; when we get behind the wheels 
we find springs and weights, which give them a certain 
inevitable motion. Punishment is cruel, for man is 
either the victim or favorite of circumstances. 

Modern Sociologists, acting from these premises, 
cease to appeal to man's power to will or to be, or to at- 
tach much praise or blame to his action. Their hope 
lies in two directions; first, to repair and improve the 
machine so it will act more harmonious; and secondarily, 
to control and arrange influences that shall be brought 



i62 Christianity and Our Times. 

to bear upon it, so as to produce better thought, feeling 
and action. 

The influence and effect of this modern science of so- 
ciology has been felt in the church, even where there 
has been no deliberate surrender to it. The appeal to 
man's free moral agency is less unqualified, his respon- 
sibility, guilt and liability to punishment, here and here- 
after, are brought home with less assurance of certainty. 
The atonement for sin, connected with these doctrines, 
naturally share the same fate. The tone assumed 
towards the unconverted, worldly and wicked, is one of 
pity towards a helpless victim rather than blame upon 
willful transgressors, and the remedy is medication of 
"the old man" rather than death to the body of sin, and 
a new life regenerated. What has been left of Christian- 
ity is the sympathetic beautiful. This is but a small 
portion of Christianity, and consequently the new depar- 
ture and liberal theology, which have their root and be- 
ing in this new science of sociology, can only believe a 
fractional portion of Christianity. Thence their pitiable 
attempts to reconcile the irreconcilable, which inevitably 
ends in a sneer at the Bible. The system of modern so- 
ciology and that of the Bible, are as distinct as any two 
systems that ever confronted each other, and here lies 
the difficulty; it is not that the Bible has suffered by any 
discovery of facts, it is the different spirit which can not 
possibly find itself at home in the Bible. 

Yet, the Bible follows for quite a little way alongside 
this science. It does not deny the influence of environ- 
ment, and that some of it is in its nature evil. The un- 
favorable environment is spoken of under three heads; 
the world, the flesh, and the devil. The felt influence 
is called trials and temptations. This is* all familiar 



Sociology and Crime. 163 

enough, but no less scientific for that. In regard to 
heredity and its possible evil effects and tendencies, even 
modern sociology would not care to go farther than 
the theological definition of total depravity; nor would 
they wish to express themselves in stronger language 
than David, when he said: "I was shapen in iniquity, 
and in sin did my mother conceive me." The Bible and 
science unite in setting forth the possible evil tendencies 
of heredity and environment, and both in equally strong 
language. So far they follow along side each other, but 
here they part. Science says that man must be con- 
trolled by his environment. The Bible says that he must 
control it. The one says he must be made and moulded 
by inherited evil tendencies, the other says he must re- 
sist and overcome them, or be damned if he does not. The 
Bible does not allow us to believe that the effect of in- 
fluences and tendencies connected with environment and 
heredity is identical with coercion. Man's conscious- 
ness is evidently on the side of the Bible. He can dis- 
cern and discriminate between the. various influences 
that effect him. He is conscious of the kind of motives 
that prompt him. He recognizes his responsibility in 
the choice he makes, and is conscious of blame, guilt 
and ill-desert, or the contrary. One is not helpless, ex- 
cusable or irresponsible, unless it can be proven that he 
is wholly unable to distinguish between right and wrong, 
or is impelled by some mechanical necessity to act in a 
certain way; neither of which is true of any but idiots, 
whose irresponsibility is recognized everywhere. Being 
incapable of the nicest distinctions is not fatal to one's 
effort for improvement; it may reasonably be expected 
of any one that he shall do right when he perceives what 
is right, and shun the wrong when he knows it to be 



1 64 Christianity and Our Times. 

wrong. To one who acts on this principle the horizon 
would soon widen, and the plan for improvement 
broaden. 

Tendencies and influences inherited or subjected to 
by surroundings are so balanced with a personal con- 
scious individuality, will power and moral freedom, that 
while parents and teachers may reasonably hope to effect 
and influence those to whom they are related, yet a per- 
son is not so bound by these influences, but what he may 
and does in every case assert his individuality and makes a 
character that is properly his own. This is a matter of 
consciousness that it would be idle to argue against. And 
it is easy to see the reasonableness of this law of our na- 
ture; it would be a sorry thing if parents had no reason- 
able hope to be able to influence or afl'ect their children, 
and it would be equally fatal to the individuality of man 
if he was wholly unable to resist these influences and cre- 
ate a character and personality of his own. That this 
balancing could not be so adjusted as to exclude the nat- 
ural effects of evil is evident, but it is undoubtedly so ad- 
justed as to give man the best possible chance in a world 
like ours. 

The Bible not only holds us responsible and guilty 
if we yield to evil tendencies and influences, but teaches 
that man — collectively and individually — is responsible 
for environment and heredity such as it is, be it good or 
bad. It has been of our own making from the begin- 
ning till now. We have made the world what it is. In 
some measure the individual is involved in the general 
doings of the race, and the net result of it up to the time of 
his existence. God has, and is doing a g*eat deal to make 
up for this possible disadvantage to the individual. But 
in a great measure the individual is independent; he not 



Sociology and Crime. 165 

only has the power to choose, but something to choose 
between. We are a bundle of tendencies inherited not 
only from two, perhaps widely different parents, but 
from a long line of ancestors, these tendencies are mixed 
in their character, some good, some evil. The influences 
to which we are exposed by our surroundings are vari- 
ous and scarcely ever wholly bad; it is not true that this 
environment is already made for us, except perhaps in 
early childliood when we are least responsible. The great- 
er part of life, man has it largely in his power to create 
his own environment, or choose between what exists. 
In the same city are good persons and bad, institutions 
for the promotion of what is good and likewise for the 
furtherance of what is evil. Quite often man not only 
creates the temptations that beset him, but the weakness 
that yields to them. He goes voluntarily to places that 
exist for the very purpose of luring astray, and under- 
mines his strength by bad habits, idleness and luxury till 
he has no power of resistance. In this is involved the 
law of reflex action which makes our bad choices doubly 
dangerous. We make ourenvironment and our environ- 
ment makes us. We create darkness and the darkness 
makes us in turn more dark. 

But upon the whole, the world is evil, so the Bible 
teaches. Man is depraved — not totally in the strictest 
sense, for that is the depravity of devils — but totally in 
that he is helpless without divine assistance to rise to- 
ward God and goodness. But the Bible teaches that God 
is in the world as a force wholly on the side of righteous- 
ness, and wholly on the side of those that would choose 
righteousness, Man is not unduly handicapped in the 
strife. The prodigal need but to nourish a heart-desire 
to return, and straightway the Father is looking out for 



1 66 Christianity and Our Times. 

him and coming half way to receive him. The way God 
has revealed himself in the world and made our redemp- 
tion possible, the way in which he is working among us 
as an active force to save us, and the way in which he has 
distinctly expressed his will concerning us. This is all 
revealed fully and perfectly in the Bible, and as much 
outside of it as the depravity of man has made possible 
and practicable. There can be no revelation of God with- 
out mediums through which his spirit may work, when 
these fail or are very imperfect, the revelation must fail, 
or be incomplete. 

In view of the general depravity of the race, any at- 
tempt to account for the criminal as a peculiar physio- 
logical product, or on any ground outside that of com- 
mon humanity, becomes superfluous. There are enough 
evil tendencies in and around us to make a criminal or 
libertine of every son of Adam, if he allows these tenden- 
cies to have their own way with him. On general prin- 
ciples, all the difference between the criminal and those 
that are not, is the difference in the degree of resistance. 
The allowance which maybe made on account of circum- 
stances which increase temptations and put man at a dis- 
advantage, cannot be put down as a definite quantity. 
The Scriptures recognizes it as a quantity, but insignih- 
cant in comparison with the willfulness of the individual. 
Man, generally and individually, is spoken of as willfully 
wicked, responsible for his wickedness and deserving 
punishment. The scriptural estimate of the allowance 
that can be made on the one hand, and the blame that 
must be attached on the other, will probably be borne 
out by observation and experience. The rich classes 
who have every opportunity to surround themselves with 
what is beautiful, ennobling and pure, who can make 



Sociology and Crime. 167 

their environment all that they choose, are not morally 
better than the poorer classes; more often they are 
spoken of as worse, but they are about on one level. 
The poorer classes produce the burglar, the wealthy 
classe's produce the schemer and manipulator, the bribe- 
giver and corruptionist. Immorality is at least as com- 
mon among the rich as among the poor. Generous im- 
pulses and natural sympathies are found equally in both 
classes. Birth may imply a great advantage or disad- 
vantage, and early training is a still greater factor, but it 
is not uncommon to see men go to the bad, who have 
had every advantage of birth and early training. On the 
other hand, we find not a few examples of men rising to 
honor and moral greatness, who have labored under 
great disadvantages in these respects. The assertion of 
the will at critical moments and all through life, has 
made it possible for "the last to become first and the first 
last"; to take it for granted that the criminal or flagrantly 
wicked has become so because he was worse situated 
than others, is a begging of the question there is no 
proof for it but rather, the contrary. We do not know 
in a single case the exact amount of temptation and trial 
that has been brought to bear upon an individual. To 
suppose a man who has become a criminal must have 
had more than his share of temptation is wholly gratu- 
itous. Many of those who remain virtuous and honest 
may have been exposed to far severer trials than those 
who have ignominously yielded. The very fact that one 
has risen to greatness of character and moral strength, is 
proof that he has been subjected to severe trials and temp- 
tations and exerted his individuality in overcoming them, 
for such greatness is never the result of smooth sailing 
and favorable circumstances. So far from man being 



1 68 Christianity and Our Times. 

the inevitable victim of circumstances, it is possible for 
him to make the worst of circumstances stepping-stones 
to the highest attainments in character and destiny. 

In one particular our sociologists are not consistent, 
for although they practically acquit the individual of re- 
sponsibility, they blame society. It is very soothing to 
refer blame and responsibility to an abstraction that can- 
not be called to account, for society in this sense is noth- 
ing more. If society is indeed responsible and guilty, 
then the individual is, for what is society but an aggre- 
gation of individuals. If an individual is worse than 
society in general, then he is responsible both for the 
average wickedness of society and for his own "super- 
fluity of naughtiness. " But how much soever the criminal 
classes may be to blame, it is not questioned that society 
has a duty towards them. It is a duty imposed without 
our choice. In some way society has to deal with crim- 
inals. How to deal with them is one of the problems of 
the age. Our dealing with them of recent years has been 
stfongly influenced by the recognized science of sociol- 
ogy, and it has proven a failure. Crimes and criminals 
have increased enorm.ously, out of proportion to the in- 
crease of population, and this in spite of increased educa- 
tional facilities. The law of Moses and of Christ,, which 
declares the criminals willfully wicked, responsible and 
deserving of punishment, has been disregarded, and in 
place thereof, criminals have been made the pets of so- 
ciety. But the law of Moses, in this as well as in other 
respects, has a way of avenging itself on those who dis- 
regard it. Where arguments are of no avail, experience 
comes to our help, and we are beginning to discover, 
that in spite of heredity, environment and all the sociol- 
ogical paraphernalia, criminals must be punished or we 



Sociology and Crime. 169 

will be punished. We must rule them or they will 
rule us. 

But, "reform" is the watchword; the criminal must be 
reformed. This is very true, but there is no reformatory 
measure like that of justice. Even the death penalty is 
reformatory. A murderer is far more likely to reform 
himself in good earnest when brought face to face with 
the just penalty of his crime, than when committed to 
prison, and he will not fare worse in the next world for 
having paid it. If committed to prison his first and only 
thought will be how to get out, "hope springs immortal 
in the human breast," and it has good reason to spring, 
for very few committed on a life sentence, but what are 
pardoned out sooner or later. "Whosoever sheddeth 
man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed," is the 
law of God and nature, and when society disregards it 
it may expect to receive in itself the punishment with 
interest, of which it acquitted the murder. As a pre- 
ventive or warning, one execution is more effective than 
a dozen life sentences. But punishment, although pre- 
ventive of crime, is not the only preventive; for this 
reason those are at fault who measure the record of 
murders by this circumstance alone, where there is no 
disposition to commit murder, none would be committed 
whether the penalty is this or that. Education, moral 
and intellectual, must be combined with strict laws and 
strict enforcement. But even as an educational measure, 
justice is of great value. A government expresses its 
regard or disregard for crime by the punishment meted 
out, and the fact, either way, impresses itself on the 
population, and creates or destroys the moral sentiment. 
Sometimes the tide of corruption and moral depravity 
has been turned in a nation or age by the strict enforce- 



170 Christianity and Our Times. 

ment of law and justice, in the hands of an efficient and 
honest government. History furnishes us with such 
examples. 

In adopting reformatory measures for our prisons, 
we should do well to study those in operation in the 
world at large. The world may be looked upon as a 
reformatory, of which we all are inmates. The Al- 
mighty has an interest in our reform, and adopts meas- 
ures to that end. There is something to lure us to a 
better life, rewards for obedience; but on the other 
hand, there is strict discipline and enforcement of pen- 
alties. To our sentimentalists, the Almighty would not 
appear as a philanthropist; he does not abolish pain, 
but depends upon it largely as one of his reformatory 
measures; pain of hard labor, of discipline, of penalties, 
for disobedience. Even capital punishment is not abol- 
ished : " He that hardened himself is suddenly destroyed 
and that without remedy." In so far as society is called 
upon to co-operate with God in this work of reform, it 
will do well to adopt his measures. The fundamental 
in all reform is justice. Attempts to reform a prisoner 
by setting aside justice in his case, is like building a 
house without foundation. No criminal can be reformed 
till he has got the idea of justice into his head and heart, 
and adopted it as the fundamental in his life and char- 
acter. 

Next in order as a reformatory measure is strict dis- 
cipline. Till one has learned thoroughly the lesson that 
his inclinations, likes and dislikes are not to be the mo- 
tive force in his life, he cannot possibly stand alone and 
take care of himself. In this is included the discipline 
of honest and regular work, this is necessary not only as 



Sociology and Crime. 171 

a corrective, but as a means of living honestly outside the 
prison. 

The general influence of mind and heart may be re- 
formatory. But this is an element that can hardly be 
bargained for in public institutions, it is too subtile to 
weigh or balance. Call it love, and you may have a sen- 
timent void of moral qualities, or you may have the sum 
total of all moral qualities. Call it sympathy, and the 
same wide difference may exist. Whether love and sym- 
pathy is effective depend altogether on what it is in man. 
A sympathy that can easily feel for the criminal because it 
has no feeling about his crime, will only create or strength- 
en self-sympathy in the criminal, and harden him against 
reformation, so much the more as it is sure to adopt false 
methods. Godly sympathy is a standing rebuke against 
sin and selfishness, while recognizing the possibilities of 
good there may be in a man, and appeals to it to culti- 
vate and strengthen it. Unless love of righteousness and 
truth predominate, and a desire to make the transgressor 
righteous and true is uppermost, unless, in short, there is 
divine power mixed with the sympathy, it is useless as a 
reformatory measure. 

Modern sociology has produced a crop of sentimen- 
talists, which directly or indirectly, tends to defeat jus- 
tice and increase crime. They are ever on the lookout 
for a chance to prove their moral imbecility. In harmo- . 
ny with their science, they believe there is only one evil, 
that of pain; and one faculty that ought to be exercised, 
that of pity. If a murdered person is out of the way, 
and his suffering past, then there is no more any feeling 
for him, all their tender sympathies are centered on the 
murderer, who is in danger of becoming a victim of the 
law. The fact that he may suffer is sufficient cause for 



172 Christianity and Our Times. 

all that is in them to rise in his behalf. The question of 
right and wrong, guilt or innocence, or even public safety, 
is not a consideration. The only question is how to pre-' 
vent a certain amount of pain. This sentiment, combined 
with the selfish interest of lawyers in trials of criminals 
has made the work of justice laborious, difficult and very 
expensive. No wonder that in the poorer sections of the 
South and West, a kind of home-made justice is resorted 
to when that furnished by the lawyers becomes too ex- 
pensive to be afforded or too uncertain to be depended 
upon. It is easy to point out the evil results of such ir- 
regularities, but justice defeated or denied will lead to 
evil results in some form or other. 

Society in a rude and uncultured state, is apt to err 
on the side of harshness and undue severity. But in 
highly civilized and cultured communities, a state of mind 
and feeling is easy developed that makes it much harder 
to do the stern work of justice, and take up arms against 
crime, than to preserve the placid and unruffled temper 
and quiet unconcern. Selfishness becomes of the passive 
type, that is always characteristic of a luxurious and ef- 
feminate people. Patience, forbearance, mercy and for- 
giveness become comparatively easy, they require only 
a passive state of mind and placid temperament, one does 
not need to rise from an easy chair to exercise one and 
all of them. But whatever calls for strong action, either 
of mind or body, is at once a hard trial and a disagreea- 
ble task. This liberalism and indifference to moral issues, 
misnamed " charitableness," is only the acute sensitive- 
ness and shrinking from pain or exposure natural to the 
hot-house plants of an effeminate civilization. It has no 
moral quality. When a population reaches this state, it 
is easily subjugated by foreign foes, and is at the mercy 



Sociology and Crime. 173 

of the criminal classes within itself, if it does not suddenly 
dissolve into ch^os by the weight of its own corruption. 
" The goodness of God leaded, or tended, to repentance," 
or was meant for that purpose, it is written. Patience, 
forbearance, forgiveness and mercy, in order to be justi- 
fiable must be active, looking, hoping and working for 
some good end. They are only so many excuses for in- 
dolence and cowardice if no moral good is actually looked 
and hoped for in their exercise. " Righteousness and 
judgment are the habitation of his throne" they are the 
foundation of all order, and. mercy itself must be built 
upon this foundation to be well founded, it must be cal- 
culated to promote righteousness. In the divine plan, 
mercy is only another way of gaining the ends of justice, 
and in this is justified. 

The spirit of liberalism, of moral indolence and cow- 
ardice, begets a narrowness of view which, while boast- 
ing of breadth and liberality, is the most pitiable of all 
narrowness. It is generally centered around some pet 
theory, and its advocates are blind to everything beyond 
and above it. A few passages of Scripture that seeming- 
ly favor their liberalism and sentimentality are selected 
and insisted upon as representing the spirit and teaching 
of Christ. But as the soul of nature and man is complex 
and vast so the spirit of Christ, as exhibited in the New 
Testament, is even more so. The spirit of Christ is rep- 
resented in his terrible denunciations of sin; his day of 
judgment, his agony in the garden, his death on the 
cross, as much as in the passages of the sermon on the 
mount that speaks of love and forgiveness. They would 
confine the spirit of Christ to their own little artificial 
flower garden, carefully cultivated, but it is broad as the 
wide landscape and vast as the heavens. It is not mere- 



174 Christianity and Our Times. 

ly a flower garden or a lovely dale, it is the expanse of 
the ocean, the rocky heights, the snow)4|irange of mount- 
ains, it is every feeling and faculty of God and man 
brought into the service of righteousness. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

MODESTY. 

•'First pure then peaceful."— James. 
It is doubtful whether the appreciation of virtue is 
greater now than the average, since our first parents 
emerged from the garden of Eden, clothed with 
the garments made for them by the Almighty in 
place of the fig-leaf covering, with which they had at- 
tempted to hide their shame. There have been changes 
from the better to the worse, and from the worse to the 
better, in every country and clime. In one particular, 
we are ahead of our fore-fathers some centuries ago; 
we do not like the rank and silly aspect of vice. Even 
Shakespeare tastes so strongly of the unwholesomeness 
of his age as to be often offensive, and ought to be 
purged from all obscenity. But it does not follow that 
because our age dislikes the rank and silly show of in- 
decency, that it is therefore more virtuous; sometimes 
the very consciousness of the prevalence of the foul 
fire damp of lust makes us the more sensitive to any- 
thing that might cause an explosion. In earlier ages 
there was less sensitiveness about this subject, and seem- 
ingly less need of. The very Scriptures bear witness to 
this. Even the free expression of the innocent in the 
joy of love, as in the song of Solomon, would not now 
be considered good taste. But it would be rash to take 



176 Christianity and Our Times. 

credit to ourselves on this account; it rather shows that 
the imagination is now so besotted as to be apt to turn 
everything to an evil use. Sometimes the fastidiousness 
of our age goes so far as to become guilty silence, in 
which there is neither virtue nor • strength, but only 
the evidence of vitiated taste and overwrought sensi- 
tiveness. The seventh commandment is passed over in 
silence as though we had a dispensation from the Al- 
mighty to do so. We are afraid even of applying the 
cure, because in doing so we must necessarily reveal 
the disease. 

The Bible, as well as other information, bears witness 
to the fact, that from the earliest age man has regarded 
sexual crimes with as much disfavor as we do to day. 
Adultery and prostitution were generally considered 
capital crimes among the ancients, and liable to the 
death penalty. They could appreciate an example like 
that of Joseph in Potiphar's house as much as we of to- 
day. Our ancestors on the shores of the Baltic were 
so much noted for domestic virtue that their descendants 
would find them worthy of imitation. Tacitus, the 
Roman historian, gives them this testimony: "No one 
there laughs at vice, nor is to seduce and to be seduced 
called the fashion. Happy those states in which only 
virgins marry, and where the vow and heart of the bride 
go together. Infidelity is very rare among them." 
Throughout the Scriptures, an adulterous woman is made 
the synonym of what is vilest and worst, and used 
persistently to illustrate the infidelity of God's people 
towards him, as though no worse figure was obtainable. 
Christ in his Sermon on the Mount does not pass by the 
seventh commandment, but shows how it must be ap- 
plied to the thoughts and intents of the heart, as well a? 



Modesty. 177 

to the acts: "Ye have heard it was said by them of old 
time, thou shalt not commit adultery, but I say unto you 
that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her 
hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And 
if thy right eye offend thee (by the lustful glance) pluck it 
out and cast it from thee. And if thy right hand offend 
thee (by the guilty touch) cut it off and cast it from thee: 
for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members 
should perish and not that thy whole body should be 
cast into hell." 

In the decalogue and throughout the Scriptures, 
sexual sins are placed side by side with crimes of vio- 
lence, such as theft and murder; some would ask for a 
wide distinction in their behalf, as mere sins of indul- 
gence; but all sins may be looked upon in this aspect, 
for sin is never committed except to indulge some pas- 
sion or desire. Theft and murder may have an aspect 
of brutality that strikes us more forcibly, but the conse- 
quences of sexual sins are even worse in their general 
effect. It is displeasing, therefore, to the Creator, not 
as a mere weakness, but as a crime of far-reaching con- 
sequences; what can be more grievous in the sight of 
God than to foul and poison the fountain of life for fu- 
ture generations. In the light of Christianity and general 
belief in the soul's immortality, would it seem strange if 
the Creator should look upon the fact of bringing a being 
into this world as of as much consequence as that of dis- 
patching one out of it, and condemn the heedless actions 
equally in both cases; or that he should fence about this 
act of propagation with the strictest laws, and ascribe to 
their violation the most awful penalties. Whatever 
weakens the feeling of responsibility, whatever lowers 
it to an act of levity, a matter of lust and concupiscence, 



178 Christianity and Our Times. 

a mere incident in the gratification of the passions, must 
be in the highest degree displeasing to the Creator. Evi- 
dently God meant that the propagation of the human 
species, should only be in connection with the highest 
reason and holiest desires, as the Scriptures said: "that 
he might seek a godly seed." Whatever violates this 
has its punishment both in time and eternity; both in the 
spirit and body of the transgressor. 

It is well said by St. Paul that sexual sins differ 
from others in that they destroy both body and soul. 
There is nothing like the sin of immorality to bring 
about that physical and moral degeneration that makes a 
people utterly unfit for anything noble, and wars against 
their very existence. For sexual crimes, when generally 
practiced, quickly destroy the reproductive power, chil- 
dren become scarce, and those that are born are feeble 
and effeminate, unfit for the stern duties of life. Thus 
the ancient Roman people came at last to a pass, where 
luxury and vice had utterly unnerved them; they had 
to depend on mercenaries for their defense, and were 
easily overpowered by the northern tribes, who combined 
domestic virtue with warlike qualities. This teaches how 
a people may deteriorate, for who would suppose that 
the Romans of later times, were descendants of those in 
whom reigned the spirit of Virginia and Lucrece. The 
ancient Greek civilization represents as striking an exam- 
ple: their cultured and intelligent classes, the boast of 
the nation, became tainted with nameless vices that made 
them barren and childless, and the state became depen- 
dant upon the poor and ignorant for a posterity to make 
up the population: 

Of the causes that lead to immorality and vice, we 
mark the following: 



Modesty. 179 

1. Forced development that leads to early ma- 
turity. 

2. Lack of moral and religious training. 

3. Decay of orthodoxy and corresponding tenden- 
cy to liberalism. 

4. Amusements, the essence of which is sexual 
excitement. 

5. Lack of parental care and social restraint. 

The result of forced dev^elopment is very similar in 
plants and animals. Compare the flower that grows in 
hard ground, with little of moisture and shade, a stunted 
growth, quickly accomplished, early developed flower, 
small and sickly, that quickly fades. On the other hand, 
if the ground is fertile, with plenty of moisture, the plant 
will grow much longer, the stem will be firm and strong, 
the leaves large and shady, before the flower, coy and 
lovely, appears among the dark green leaves, its beauty 
and glory retained till late in the season. Girls are sup- 
posed to be the flowers of humanity, and anyone can 
observe the analogy with regard to growth and develop- 
ment. 

The causes of forced development and early puberty 
may be enumerated as follows: (i) Inherent low vital- 
ity. (2) Highly condensed food that does not distend and 
develop the digestive organs and consequently not the 
rest of the body. (3) Idleness, to deprive the young of 
useful occupation is to abandon them to the devil. (4) 
Too much study, too much mental application, and not 
enough out-of-doors exercise. (5) Whatever unduly 
excites the nervous system^ novel-reading, intermingling 
of the sexes, sexual excitement under the guise of amuse- 
ments. (6) Tight dresses, the corset — principal inven- 



i8o Christianity and Our Times. 

tion of the devil for the deterioration of the human 
race. 

The danger that lies in a too early development of 
the passions, has its cause in the fact, that their strength 
is developed before there is corresponding intelligence, 
character and will-power to direct and control. Girls are 
in more danger of seduction between the ages of thirteen 
and sixteen than at any other. Brothels are almost 
wholly recruited by girls of this age. They are often 
subjected to all the impulses of a violent passion, but do 
not have the sense and womanly dignity of later years to 
restrain and warn. Parents who allow girls of this age 
to run at large among the young men, know but little 
or care less. During the skating ring craze, the seduc- 
tion of such girls became so notorious, that the legis- 
latures of several states considered measures to prevent 
their presence unattended by responsible persons. 



The importance of childhood and youth as the age 
for the moulding of character is recognized by all. The 
exercise of the mere intellectual is detrimental and abu- 
sive at any age, but it is more so in childhood and youth; 
then is the very age when heart and soul respond best to 
moral impressions, and to the high and noble aspirations 
comprehended in religious training. Chords of love, 
hope, faith and sympathy, if not awakened in childhood 
or youth may lie dormant forever, and finally lose all 
power to respond. A system of training for children 
and youth that treats them as mere intellectual ma- 
chines to work out certain results in arithmetic and gram- 
mar is abusive and unnatural in the extreme. Nowadays 
it is more than ever superfluous as well as injurious that 
the child's mind should be crammed with a vast amount 



Modesty. i8i 

of information in school years, having learned to read 
and write, he has the key to all knowledge, for all 
knowledge is now contained in books, and if the child 
has sufficient instruction in school to arouse his curiosity, 
he may at his leisure through life pursue the studies that 
have special interest for him, independent of schools and 
teachers. With the form.ing of character and laying the 
foundation of morals, it is different; if this is done wrong 
or neglected in childhood, character will be deformed 
and the moral nature dwarfed through life. To form 
character and lay the foundation of morals, should there- 
fore be our principal effort in behalf of children and 
youth. 

It need not be said that this order is reversed in our 
public schools. But it is supposed that the church and 
the home take care of the religious and moral training of 
the child. Suppose they do not, more than half of our 
population belong to no church and have no moral or re- 
ligious instruction either in church or at home. The 
growing youth of this large class is wholly dependent 
for their knowledge of right and wrong, and of moral 
distinctions in general, on what little they may pick up 
accidentally. Yet the state holds them responsible for 
their moral conduct, it holds them responsible for duties 
that it does not teach them. It demands that their con- 
duct shall be in harmony with certain moral laws and 
standards, but does not teach them what they are. Some 
responsibility must no doubt be left to the individual and 
to parents, but if the state considers it her duty to reform 
the youth after he has become vicious, it would seem 
much more a duty to form him so he shall not become 
vicious. 

Even that portion of our population which belongs 



1 82 Christianity and Our Times. 

to some church, has no adequate moral and religious 
instruction for their young. The Sunday school is the 
only institution for this purpose and the children may or 
may not attend. If they do, a single hour in a whole 
week is quite insufficient to meet the demand for moral 
and religious instruction, and in very few, even of relig- 
ious families, is this supplemented by any effort at home. 
The sum of it is, that half the population has no moral 
training, and the other half is insufficiently provided. 
That half outside the church is losing what moral and re- 
ligious ideas tradition and past training had left them, 
and we have a generation of youths growing up nearly 
void of such ideas. We perceive it in an air of heathen- 
ism, a moral blank, that stares forth menacingly in all 
their action. 

* Even as an intellectual stimulus there is nothing, like 
moral and religious training rightly comprehended. Dry 
rules of arithmetic and grammar are but as dead rubbish 
compared with the living seed of the Word of Gpd. The 
former is soon forgotten, but the latter will remain a liv- 
ing power in the soul forever. Religious training will 
not only teach moral distinctions but will furnish the 
needed restraints upon the passions without which it is a 
miracle if disaster does not result. The emotional pre- 
dominates in the child, as it does indeed in the masses of 
grown people, religion alone can enlarge, discipline and 
purify the emotions. Even if some children are capable 
of no deep religious impression, they will not fail to com- 
prehend the moral side of religion, the distinction be- 
tween right and wrong. They will understand the differ- 
ence between heaven and hell, the judgment will be pres- 
ent with them in making their choices, they will be made 



MODESTV. 1^3 

acquainted with the nature and consequences of sin and 
crime. 

The problem of reHgious instruction in public schools 
has been solved in other countries of mixed population in 
one way or another. The Bible, non-sectarian and funda- 
mental, without a commentary on the text, is a solution 
to which there can be no rational objection. It would 
furnish a basis, and denominations might build upon it 
according to their peculiarities. The state has some right 
in the way of having children brought up so they shall 
not become a danger and damage to the community, 
which those who wish to be or become citizens are bound 
to respect, objections should be overruled on this ground. 
The principle of civil and religious liberty does not re- 
quire a policy that will please everybody, this at best 
would be impossible. It requires a policy that willleave 
no ground forjust complaint. Our government, informed 
by public opinion, and guided by its own wisdom must 
decide what constitutes a just complaint. 



Modern liberalism in harmony with modern sociol- 
ogy, directly and indirectly, tend to increase crime, both 
of violence and against virtue. Whatever difference 
there may be about details or minor matters, the sum 
total of the tendency is to belittle sin and make it less 
alarming for the sinner. Their mood is especially soft 
towards sexual crimes. To speak of a fallen or faithless 
woman in their presence as wicked would be an offence, 
she is simply unfortunate. Unfortunately fortheir opinion, 
the Bible does not agree with them, it makes no differ- 
ence between man and woman; it makes their responsi- 
bility the same and their damnation the same. Rather 
strange, it is generally those who most persistently clam- 



1 84 Christianity and Our Times. 

or for woman's right who thus insist on putting her on a 
lower level in regard to responsibility. This implies an 
inferiority which Christianity does not ascribe to her. 

It is common to complain of the injustice done fallen 
women in excluding them from society, while men equal- 
ly guilty are admitted as though nothing was the matter. 
But what is the object of this? Is it that immoral women 
and men should be accepted as though their way of life 
was not to be criticised? or is it meant that they should 
equally be excluded? The reason why fallen women are 
excluded is not because society hates this sin in a woman 
more than in a man, but because meruare so constituted 
that they do not want to marry an impure woman. They 
do not hate her, but at the same time they do not desire 
her. There is a place for immoral men in society be- 
cause women are perfectly willing to marry them. Mar- 
riage is the focal point around which social life revolves, it 
all depends on how this is regarded, if women felt towards 
men of this sort as men feel towards that class of women, 
they would as certainly be excluded. It is probably a 
mistake to suppose that women hate their erring sisters 
on account of the sin which they look upon with so little 
disfavor in men. Their supposed hatred may be set 
down as a specie of jealousy. 



There has been much wrangling, in and outside the 
church, about amusements. Liberals have demanded, 
what is the harm in certain kinds of amusements, and 
Christians have scarcely been able to tell, while knowing 
all the time that there was harm. The reason for this has 
been the want of a general test easily applied to all amuse- 
ments of this class. It should be taken for granted that 
whatever amuses by passional excitement or exhilara- 



Modesty. 185 

tion, in any degree, is sin. It is sin to play with the 
fires of passion for our amusement. The appeals to the 
passions that excite may be caused by lewd exhibitions, 
as in a theatre, otherwise by personal contact between 
the sexes as in dancing. As the contact increases in fa- 
miliarity, so the excitement increases, and in like degree 
the amusement, but in any degree this kind of amuse- 
ment is sin, and the condemnation of it is implied in the 
Savior's exposition of the seventh commandment in his 
sermon on the mount. In modern dancing, with inter- 
mingling of the sexes, it is the contact between the sexes, 
the familiarities allowed, the sexual excitement that makes 
it an attraction. Everything in the ballroom is calculated 
for this effect — the voluptuous music, the ecstatic whirl, 
the decollete dress, the liberties allowed. In world- 
ly-minded and carnal people, the love of this kind of 
amusement is so strong that when one avenue is closed 
to them they will open another. Thus, while in some 
churches dancing has become unpopular, kissing and 
other kinds of games have been introduced; these are 
worse than some dances. It would not be too much to 
demand of a girl that she should have more sense of 
modesty and delicacy of feeling than to allow herself to 
be caught, handled, fondled and kissed by everybody as 
is done in these games. The fellow who broke off an 
engagement with a girl who had played the babe to be 
kissed at a church fair, was right; the woman who will 
prostitute her lips or even her cheeks to promiscuous 
kissing, would likely prostitute the rest of her body if 
temptation and occasion should arise. 

"Take it thou — finding pare, from all those years 
The kiss my mother left there when she died.'' 
Thus, Elizabeth Browning in the song of her love. 



1 86 Christianity and Our Times. 

A girl might well blush to look her lover in the face if 
she were unable to say as much. 

Boisterous and frivolous mirth cannot be indulged in 
on the part of a Christian without loss of character and 
self-respect, it is wholly opposed to a godly life. Many 
professed Christians who are ignorant of true Christian 
joy, and whose life and character are not matters of rejoic- 
ing, 'assume the worldly counterfeit and appear with an 
air of flippancy. Unsanctified joy or sorrow is alike bad, 
but unsanctified joy in the form of levity on the part of a 
professed Christian is more disgusting, forasmuch as sor- 
row is more consistent with his case. 



All the States have enacted laws for the protection of 
young girls, the object of which is to prevent the seducer 
from taking undue advantage of youth and inexperience. 
The laws, whatever their effect or effectiveness, embody 
the sentiment that the young ought and should have pro- 
tection. But if they are entitled to protection from the 
state how much more from their parents and guardians. 
We complain, and with reason, that some of the laws are 
shamefully inadequate; but many who subscribe to this 
opinion are much more lax in the care of their own girls than 
the laws of which they complain. They allow them to be ex- 
posed freely to the seducer, and more to play the seducer. 
Very young girls are dressed out in gaudy attire, and 
skillful in all the arts of flirtation,- they are allowed to 
mingle freely with the young men, go out with them 
alone by day and night. They seduce and are seduced. 
A law that would put the whole blame upon one party to 
the crime would be quite unjust. Young men are tempt- 
able and fallable as well as girls, and ought to have pro- 
tection against the art of seduction. We may put it 



Modesty. 187 

down as a rule that those who are foolish enough to ex- 
pose themselves to temptation are weak enough to fall, 
and probably do in most cases. "Lead us not into temp- 
tation," why not, rather, help us to resist temptation; no 
doubt if the temptation can't be avoided it is nobler to 
have resisted. But in most cases victory is only gained 
by foresight and the very fact of one snuffing round the 
snares of the devil shows a degree of affinity, and one 
has already been in a measure overcome when he has 
yielded to the temptation of exposing himself to temp- 
tation needlessly. Job understood this three thousand 
years ago when he said '*I made a covenant with mine 
eyes," and the Savior "Watch and pray lest ye enter in- 
to temptation." 

The extreme individualism of the sexes, both in men 
and women, has made the legal and binding union of 
marriage more difficult and less frequent. The last cen- 
sus of this country revealed some three millions of bachel- 
ors over thirty years of age, and, of course, a correspond- 
ing number of unmarried women. The number is start- 
ling and suggestive, so much the more as those who thus 
refuse or are slow to contribute anything towards the fut- 
ure of society are not always, nor even generally, of the 
poorer and worse classes. The churches have taken up 
the cause, but often with more zeal than knowledge. 
Some of them are little more than social clubs with the 
principal aim in view of "getting the young acquainted". 
Wonderful ingenuity is exerted, and wonderful entertain- 
ments invented for the purpose of giving the young op- 
portunities for flirtation, for this is considered the great 
promoter of union and harmony. But flirtation, so much 
depended upon, is not conducive to marriage, it tends to 
destroy the confidence which is essential to love and friend- 



1 88 Christianity and Our Times. 

ship. The churches could serve the cause of matchmaking 
in no better way than to remedy the defects in character, 
and inspire qualities, both in boys and girls, that will make 
them mutually attractive, and leave ground for esteem 
and admiration. This done, the natural law of attraction or 
gravitation may be depended on to bring them together, 
this it may safely, if simplicity is allowed to rule and the 
intricacies of flirtation avoided. Courtship among us is 
too much game and not enough common sense; if the 
churches should establish matrimonal bureaus in their con- 
nection, and run them on common sense principles, it 
would be much more effective and honorable than flirta- 
tion and coquetry, which involves a great waste of 
thought, feeling and effort that might be put to better 
use. The practical young men of our age have not much 
mind for the intrigues and intricacies of rivalries, some 
of them are too sensitive to attempt it at all; they desire 
above all things a woman whose character inspires confi- 
dence, and who has practical knowledge of her duties. 
Every honorable man is an Othello, he hates promiscuity, 
the girl who bestows her fond looks and bewitching smiles 
on everybody, instead of reserving them for her true 
lover, is not desired. Her yea should be yea and nay — 
nay in looks and manners as well as in words. 

Flirtation, moreover, is damaging to the moral charac- 
ter. It is generally attended with familiarities, the natur- 
al consummation of which is the capital crime against vir- 
tue, even as envy and hate has its natural consummation 
in the capital crime against life. And our Savior teaches 
that the different stages of feeling and desire that lead up 
to the consummation in both cases, partake of the crime 
to which it tends, and hell fire is threatened as the punish- 
ment in both. But it is generally excused on the ground 



Modesty. 189 

that the young must get acquainted before, in order to 
marry. That this is strictly necessary is doubtful, for 
more than half the nations of the world do not allow it in 
any manner on account of the risk involved, and mar- 
riage is said to be fully as much of a success among them 
as among us. But suppose acquaintance is necessary, 
there is scarcely a more doubtful way of gaining it than 
by flirtation and familiarities. Contact between theyoung 
of both sexes blinds rather than informs. Scarcely a girl 
in a dozen but what will be deceived by a well-informed 
scamp, into believing him to be a pattern of excellence, if 
he has the advantage of private meetings and personal 
contact; and it is equally true that a man may be ensnar- 
ed and held by a woman if she has like advantages, even 
against his better judgment, As for the affinity of a 
true love it generally reveals itself at sight, the interest 
developed by contact and familiarities is something differ- 
ent. What is needed for safety on both sides is a know- 
ledge of character, it is best known by habits and ways 
of everyday life, and the knowledge is generally best gain- 
ed from disinterested persons. 

Flirtation not only results in damage to character, 
but it is the cause, directly or indirectly, of about half 
the murders and suicides committed. Flirtation encour- 
ages rivalries, and rivalries necessarily end in disappoint- 
ment somewhere, and disappointment of this kind is apt 
to upset weakminded persons; the result is murder or 
suicide. This might largely be prevented by an honest, 
straightforward course. Rivalries in love affairs are a 
characteristic of the lower animals; cats and dogs fight 
about a mate, and among the animals, the female has no 
choice, but to go with the physically stronger. Among 
men she may choose, and this ought to settle the ques- 



190 Christianity and Our Times. 

tion. But perhaps she is in no hurry to assume her pre- 
rogative. The offering of admiration, from competing 
rivals upon the altar of her vanity, is too sweet to be re- 
fused, and she is rather apt to encourage than to put an 
end to the contest. It is known, and we are freely told 
for our benefit, that women love a lover that has cheek 
and courage; that is, one who willingly and freely ex- 
poses himself to humiliation and the wounding of his 
feelings, perhaps to final disappointment and the con- 
sciousness that he has made an ass of himself; who is will- 
ing to jostle and scramble with a crowd for coveted fa- 
vors. But men of sense and noble sentiment are apt to 
be rather backward in this game; such men are sure to 
have pride, and they will not freely expose themselves to 
humiliation and the wounding of their feelings. Women 
are apt to be superficial in judging of the sentiment of 
such, and blunder in making demonstration the test or 
measure, for this is rather a matter of temperament than 
of strength or intensity. They congratulate themselves 
if the fellow loses his head on their account, but those 
that grow blind and frantic in their devotion, are men 
with small hearts and diminutive brains, but with an ab- 
normally developed animalism. A man of sense is quite 
apt to judge of his intended with the precision of one who 
sees everything clearly; when judgment is well devel- 
oped, feeling will not blind it. Those that lose their 
heads are such as have not much head to lose. 

Men and women who contemplate marriage, are 
alike desirous that the love that inspires their union 
should be constant and enduring, and they hope to have 
a guarantee to this effect in its intensity. But, as a gen- 
eral thing it is the carnal passion that is appealed to in 
order to create this intensity. Women are the most apt 



Modesty. 191 

to err in this respect. In their passive way of wooing, 
the appeal is generally to man's passion rather than to 
his love for the noble, the true and worthy. As for in- 
stance, the decollete dress, what is it but a frank appeal 
to the animalism of the other sex. But perhaps it will 
be answered that woman must appeal to man as he is, 
and if the animal is nearly all that there is of him, what 
is she to do? Of course, if this be the case, the objec- 
tion disappears and we leave it. But if a woman gains a 
husband by the tricks of the harlot, can she complain if 
she is looked upon in this light only, and has little love 
left her when her l)eauty and charms have faded. The 
strength of the animal passion is no guarantee that love 
will last; extravagant promises and assurances made on 
this ground, before marriage, are not generally kept. 
There is no guaranty except in character. If men or 
women consider themselves mere creatures of feeling, 
and predestinated to yield to any impressions made upon 
them, then occasion for a change of feeling is apt to oc- 
cur any time, before or after marriage. The only guar- 
anty is in the character and principles that believe in 
the "shall" and "shall not" of Scripture, and in their own 
ability to obey. The sense of honor and duty that for- 
bids the roving eye and the fitful imagination; that does 
not dwell upon the thought of evil, but guards against 
the first approaches of a guilty passion, that know and 
believe themselves capable of preventing in themselves 
any caprice of feeling, and fulfill the divine requirement 
of constancy in love on the part of wife and husband. 
Marriage used to be looked upon more as a settle- 
ment than a conquest or a bit of romance, and it used to 
be looked for with more certainty than now-a-days. A 
girl would prepare herself in a business-like manner for 



192 Christianity and Our Times. 

what was looked upon as a matter of course. Now it is 
looked upon as a mere chance, girls learn trades and pre- 
pare to be self-supporting. If this is necessary it is 
nevertheless unfortunate. It is generally deplored most- 
ly on account of interference with the chances of young 
men to earn a living and establish a home, and probably 
it does, so much the more as they are nothing too well 
prepared for the competition. But the damage is as 
great in creating a distaste and disability on the part of 
the girls for the duties of housekeeper and homemaker. 
A committee of women lately investigating the tene- 
ment districts of New York City reported that the homes 
appeared shabby and ill-kept, the cooking was half waste, 
half dyspepsia, and that a great deal of the drunkenness 
and brutality of the men was caused by it. The wives 
freely admitted that they knew nothing about house- 
keeping; the early years of their girlhood had been di- 
vided between books and frivolities, later on the store 
or the factory had claimed them. It is a fault in girls to 
neglect learning the duties that naturally belong to them 
on any account. All, or nearly all, hope for a home of 
their own; they should be prepared to assume the du- 
ties that belong to a home. Whatever they may or may 
not learn, they should never fail to learn housekeeping 
and cooking, and have a practical knowledge of all the 
laws of economy and industry pertaining to the making 
of a home. Millionaries are not numerous enough for 
girls in general to depend upon for husbands; the great 
mass of men depend upon labor for a support, and they 
cannot support a home unless the woman is capable and 
efficient as a helpmeet. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
woman's suffrage. 

"They shall be one.''— (Genesis-Christ.) 
The agitation for woman's suffrage is one of the sen- 
timental vagaries of the age. The sentiment, as gener- 
ally expressed by men, is tipsy, it savors of the carnal 
nature, rather than of a moral conviction. Otherwise it 
is a symptom of a social disease, due to extreme indivi- 
dualism, and complicated with other disorders that make 
women failures within their natural sphere of activity and 
influence, for which reason they discontentedly seek for 
other worlds to conquer. 

The rights and wrongs of women hardly enter into 
the question, no doubt they have had their share of both 
in times past, and so have men. Which of the sexes 
has been most tyrannized over, it might be hard to de- 
termine. No doubt men have tyrannized over women, 
and so likewise have women over men; what evil pas- 
sions have they aroused? What wars have they instigat- 
ed, how men have toiled and quarreled, fought, bled and 
died for women. Laws and customs of the past have not 
been perfect, but upon the whole they have had their 
origin in the fundamental distinction of the sexes; the 
influence of one sex may have fairly counterbalanced the 
superior strength of the other, and about evenly divided 
the joys and sorrows of life. In no instance do we find 



194 Christianity and Our Times. 

the women of the past complain of their lot as a whole, 
there is scarcely any need of the commiseration bestowed 
upon them on this ground. Of course, they have suf- 
fered in common with humanity, but have also fairly 
been partakers of the advantages of the tim.es in which 
they lived. The virtuous woman has been the song and 
praise of all ages, and the wise among them have not 
failed of recognition. We find examples of this in the 
history of all nations; taking the more familiar instances 
of Bible history, we find women in the earliest ages up 
to the standard of the times, well informed and capable, 
having due honor bestowed upon them, and happy in 
their homes. Women superior in wisdom have been 
recognized even as leaders, but such cases are excep- 
tional, simply showing that there was no prejudice 
against them, but also suggesting that man is the rule in 
this capacity. She appears to most advantage in her 
home, and the Bible gives us pictures of many such; her 
principal work is within the family circle, and the honor 
most coveted, that of being "a. happy mother of chil- 
dren." 

We have before us in Proverbs the picture of a wo- 
man in the sphere of her activity, three thousand years 
ago. She is not a modern-reading machine, which de- 
vours all knowledge, and yet does not know her business, 
on the contrary, she understands it thoroughly. At the 
beginning and the end of the picture, we find "virtue" 
and "the fear of the Lord"; these are fundamental in 
her character. By virtue we may understand general 
excellence, but chastity and womanly honor was always 
first thought of by the ancients in considering the ex- 
cellencies of a woman. All through her life we find dili- 
gence and industry; these ought to be the warp and 



Woman's Suffrage. i95 

woof in every life; there can be neither virtue nor the 
fear of God without it. Yet the picture given of her 
diligence and industry is not that of a drudge, noth- 
ing is farther from it. Her work is not done com- 
plainingly, languidly or slavishly; it is the free and 
spontaneous activity of a healthy mind and body, such as 
cannot help being active and rejoice in their activity. 
"Strength and honor is her clothing and she rejoiced 
in time to come." She may have had less book-learn- 
ing than now-a-days, but she had more wisdom, and she 
could give expression to it. "She opened her mouth 
with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness." 
Kind and sympathetic, yet strong and active, a many- 
' sided and fully developed human being. She is the 
mother of joyous and obedient children, who do her 
reverence, "they rise up and call her blessed." "Her 
husband also, and he praised her," which proves that the 
inclination on the one hand, or the occasion on the other, 
must have been greater than now-a-days. "She looked 
well to her household," but her husband looked after 
pontics, "He sitteth in the gates of the elders." The 
Bible knows where to draw the line every time, there is 
a divine hand holding the balance between the true and 
the false throughout the scriptures. For our part we 
will let evolution evolve, and stand by the ideal of three 
thousand years ago, but where, except in the Bible, 
could we find this. 

When the Creator introduced man and woman into 
this world he placed them in their home in the garden 
of Eden and said: "they shall be one." After sin had 
entered, a few additional directions or commands became 
necessary; their life must now be one of labor, of this 
is allotted to Adam the work in the field, to the woman 



196 Christianity and Our Times. 

is given the care of children. Moreover, with the intro- 
duction of sin came the possibility of discord, the need 
of rule and authority, this is given to Adam. Rule or 
authority implies lack of harmony and sympathy, where 
these are perfect there is little or no need of the asser- 
tion of this authority, and it is conspicuously absent from 
the picture of **the excellent woman," but as far as there 
is need of it, it was given to the man as the head of the 
family. 

When God said of man and woman "they shall be 
one," it is implied that their interests are one and, in the 
main, the same may be said of their character. The 
two sexes are so intertwined in their relations that they 
must necessarily rise or fall together. Characteristics 
indeed, differ, and each sex may have weaknesses pecul- 
iarly its own. When the ancients would represent vio- 
lence in their works of art, they did so in the shape of 
a man; when they would represent frivolity and vanity 
they did it in the shape of a woman. That men should 
be more given to crimes of violence, and consequently 
fill our prisons to a greater extent than women is natur- 
al; their opportunities, temptations and natural capacity 
for these kinds of crimes are greater, but it is but a small 
part of the sins of the race that are represented in this. 
As a matter of compliment or sentiment, we may be will- 
ing to call women angels, but if advantage is taken of 
our weakness in this respect, and claims made of superi- 
ority, and for radical changes based upon it, then we 
have to come down to the plain truth, and tell them, 
that after all they are not angels, but part and parcel 
of the common humanity, and that attempts to take too 
much upon themselves are more apt to end in making 
them less of angels than they are. The sexes have pe- 



Woman's Suffrage. 197 

culiarities on which depends mutual admiration and re- 
spect; they can only retain their advantages by develop- 
ing their strong points; a masculine woman is not ad- 
mired any more than a feminine man. 

Character cannot be weighed with a precision that 
would enable us in all cases to decide where the pre- 
ponderance of virtue and excellence belong. Perhaps 
the best we could do would be to take the world's rec- 
ord of great deeds, great thoughts, and great expres- 
sions of sentiment, and ask to which sex they are main- 
ly due. The great battles for liberty and human rights 
have been fought by men; women have stood nobly 
by them in the strife, but not as leaders or command- 
ers. The great thoughts of the world have mostly 
been produced by men, his are the great works of phil- 
osophy, science, history, theology, and even of fiction and 
poetry. Women's place in literature is her place in 
life; the center is the home or social circle and the ra- 
dius not very wide; but within her sphere she is the 
equal of man; it is a matter of limitation not of inferi- 
ority. When we come to the world's great expression 
of sentiment there is more cause for surprise, for this 
is supposed to be woman's strong point, and no doubt 
she has done excellently, but the worldrenown song- 
writers, dramatists, composers of music as well as per- 
formers, are all men. Woman is queen of the home; 
but man has fairly earned his reputation as lord of crea- 
tion. 

Unless woman could establish her claim to superior 
excellence of character and intelligence, — and it would 
seem to be hard in view of the facts referred to, — right 
of suffrage would not constitute a gain to society or the 
nation. If it be simply allowed she is the equal of 



igS Christianity and Our Times. 

man; her political right would leave the balance and the 
net result the same, but there would be a loss to make 
up in the increase of expense, inconvenience, and com- 
plexity of elections and political machinery. It is com- 
mon to point to some great and noble woman, com.pare 
her with an ofifscouring of a man, and demand if it is 
right the one should vote and the other not. But this 
is rather a trick than an argument, for it is understood 
that if women vote they must all have this right, not 
only the good and excellent, but the ignorant and friv- 
olous; the one class would balance the other as in the 
case of men, and the result be the same. 

• Equally shallow is the claim to suffrage on account 
of certain women not included in families, who, per- 
haps, live independent and pay their own taxes. Leg- 
islation on this subject must run along broad lines, it can 
not depart from these on account of an old maid here 
or an old bachlor there. The laws of the nation must 
recognize the family as fundamental, they have to do 
with general principles, not with anomalies. 

Some who are interested in particular reforms, like 
that of temperance, look at the question in this light 
only They hope to secure prohibition laws by wo- 
men's votes. But we have learned by this time that 
more is needed for prohibition than mere laws. If such 
laws are badly enforced where a majority of men have 
voted for them, what would they avail if they were im- 
posed against the wish of a majority? But aside from 
this, it is a very narrow thing to look at a question of 
this radical character in the light of a single issue like 
that of temperance. 

Even if women were the equal or superior to men in 
character and intelligence, they would not therefore be 



Woman's Suffrage. 199 

able to make laws. Law is not merely the expression of 
intelligence and character, it is the expression of force, 
physical force that compels obedience. Advice or asim- 
ple statement may have intellectual and moral force if a 
law has nothing more, it is only so much advice which one 
may take or not as he pleases. There is no need of wo- 
men gathering in the halls of legislature to give us advice, 
they can do that at home, or avail themselves of the press 
or platform. It is taken for granted that a law is moral 
and reasonable, but what makes it a law is the force that 
can meet opposition and put it down. The attitude as- 
sumed by the law-making power is the attitude of force. 
A man alone can assume it, he alone can give expression 
to brute, physical force, do it gracefully and naturally so 
as to impress one with the reality of it. A woman assum- 
ing this attitude would be ridiculous, she does this when 
she pretends to the law-making power. There is the 
beauty of symmetry in the soldier with fixed bayonet 
charging upon an enemy and even in the burly pugilist 
drawn up for an encounter. But a woman assuming this 
attitude would be disgusting. We are therefore opposed 
to women making laws, because in the nature of things 
they cannot, they do not possess the physical force with- 
out which there can be no laws. We are opposed to it 
because it is against the divine com^mand, which said of 
man and woman "they shall be one." What God there- 
fore hath joined together, let not the ballot box put a- 
sunder. A plural or divided vote is incompatible with 
the family relation established by God from the beginning 
and emphasized by Christ. It would have no meaning, 
nor any necessity. Heads of families constitute a repres- 
entative body, even as the legislature itself. The father 
or husband represents the family when he deposits his 



200 Christianity and Our Times. 

vote, it is the combined influence of all the members that 
finds expression in his political action. A husband or 
father has as much at heart, the interests of his wife, mo- 
ther, daughter and sister, as those of his sons when he 
votes or otherwise acts in a poHtical capacity, and as a mat- 
ter of fact this has found expression in his political action 
whenever altered times and circumstances have revealed 
the need of new laws, and there is no reason to believe 
that favor and protection should fail to be secured from 
those so vitally interested in their welfare. Here as in 
other matters, sentiment may get the better of wisdom, 
men occasionally need a little protection as well as wo- 
men. If the husbands and fathers of this nation should 
become wholly unfit to represent the family at the polls, 
it would indicate a moral degeneration that would leave 
us wholly unfit for a representative goverment, we should 
in that case have need of neither male nor female suffrage 
for we would be fit for nothing but the despotism of a 
czar. 

It is not implied in our argument that the heavens 
would immediately fall if women should vote. There 
would be an immediate increase in expense, inconven- 
ience and complexity without any corresponding good 
result. Effects contrary to the best interests of both sex- 
es would appear further on, and it would not be offset by 
advantages of local or temporary character which might 
possibly be gained. Their religious, sympathetic nature 
might in some instances work beneficially, but politicians 
would soon discover the weak side of this, and learn how 
to take advantage of it. Men have their failings and 
weaknesses, but their sense of justice and their judg- 
ment is less easy upset than that of the average woman. 
Women are easier influenced through their feelings and 



Woman's Suffrage. 201 

passions, and in the administration of justice and political 
affairs this weakness is capable of infinite mischief. Even 
their religious instincts, the noblest of all emotions, are 
easily subjected to the service of designing and unscrup- 
ulous persons. This probably could not be where religion 
is built wholly upon the principles of Christ, but weak- 
ness on the one hand and knavery on the other, makes 
it easy. The abject submission of the women to the 
priests in the Catholic Church is proverbial, much more 
so than in the case of the men. A priest armed with 
purgatory, or what is worse, the keys of heaven and hell 
at his command, is more than a match for the average 
woman. The intimate relation of the unmarried priest 
through the confessional and privileges of the home fur- 
nishes him with another weapon of advantage, it will 
scarcely fail to develop a sympathetic quality which adds 
to his influence; the exact nature and degree of which it 
is needless to argue, as the only point in view is the fact 
that it effects the women as it does not the men, and 
brings their voices and votes under his control. If the 
women of Catholic countries had sufferage and equalpoliti- 
cal right with the men, the priests could by their votes over- 
throw every liberal government in Catholic countries and 
establish the rack and the stake as in the middle ages. 
Nothing less than a revolution on the part of the men 
could prevent it. The priests do not clamor for suffrage 
in behalf of women, they know they could not rule by 
their votes as long as the majority of the men are against 
them. Moreover, they know that the multiplication table 
counts more than politics and they have no mind to pros- 
titute their women to inferior uses. 

The Bible grants to woman as much as it grants to man, 
she may aspire to the highest heaven and she may fall as 



202 Christianity and Our Times. 

low. Only it does not grant her the power of brute 
force, nor the right to assume the attitude of it. She is 
not to "usurp authority." Her power must be that of heart, 
soul and life, if she cannot gain her ends by these, there 
is no help for her. God has willed that one half of man- 
kind should be confined to these, that the power of brute 
force might be abated. As far as woman at anytime, or 
in any case, assumes the prerogative of man, she loses in a 
corresponding degree the power and influence naturally 
hers, and the loss to her and the world at large is greater 
than the gain. Demands for woman's suffrage is the expres- 
sion of abnormal conditions in society, the cause and effect 
alike is a contravention of the laws of nature and revela- 
tion. We have in mind an old mother who never clam- 
ored for right to vote, but she brought up five boys to 
vote right every time. What did she care about voting 
while her boys were voting her sentiment straight along. 
Women are never clamorous for the rights of men unless 
they have made failure of their own rights. A waning 
race, that has been selling its birth-right for a mess 
of pottage, would save itself by putting votes into 
the hands of the old maids and childless women; it is 
a poor make-shift, a dependence upon superficialities 
while neglecting what is fundamental. The foreigners, 
whose children swarm in our streets, may well afford to 
let American women **talk politics" while they produce 
the future generations which will rule and own the coun- 
try, suffrage or no suffrage. The battle of the future will 
indeed have to be fought by women, but it will not be 
done at the polls, but in the homes. It will be the politi- 
cal woman against the domestic woman, and the latter 
will gain the victory as easy as any victory was ever 
gained. The future belongs to her, whether she be Jew 



Woman's Suffrage. 203 

or Gentile, Greek or barbarian. Politics and suffrage, 
refinement and book-learning, indignation and protests 
will avail nothing whatever against the — multiplication 
table. 



CHAPTER XV. 

IMPENDING STRUGGLE OF RACES. 

"The place is too strait; — give place to me that I may dwell. *'-(Esaiah.) 

There are questions before the people at present of 
finance, tariff and the distribution of wealth which create 
endless discussion, and are the issues in every election. 
These questions are of importance, they concern the 
material development of our country, but above them we 
would place a problem in which is involved the question: 
what is to be the character of the people, and of the 
civilization, which in the future is to possess these Unit- 
ed States. If it is merely a question how to get the 
country filled with people, and have its resources devel- 
oped, there is not much reason for concern; it will come 
soon enough. The principal European nations are 
doubling their population every fifty or sixty years, 
either at home or overflowing abroad. The Chinese 
and other Asiatic people are capable of like expansion. 
Transportation is very cheap, and new improvements 
are in view, if we have not the country filled to its 
utmost capacity it will not be because the people can- 
not be forthcoming. It is a more important question 
how or by whom it is filled; there is neither glory nor 
safety in numbers, the saddest sight on earth is a seeth- 
ing, struggling mass of corrupt humanity. As the Al- 
mighty hid this country for thousands of years till the 



Impending Struggle of Races. 205 

reformation and consequent persecution made it desira- 
ble that an asylum should be provided for the persecut- 
ed, so even now it were better that the material develop- 
ment of the country should stop right here, than that it 
should serve the purpose of a corrupt and worthless civ- 
ilization. 

At the present rate of increase, tne population of 
the earth will soon be crowding upon the means of sus- 
tenance, as indeed they are already in all the elder parts 
of the world. What is left of the new will soon be filled 
up, and then will begin a scuffle for room between the 
different races and nationalities; a battle for bread, not 
perhaps so much with weapons in hand, as a contest of 
endurance, a struggle for existence in the true scien- 
tific meaning. 

To the question: when will this struggle be upon us 
in good earnest? Some perhaps would answer that it will 
be when the earth has reached the fullest development of 
material resources of which it is capable; but this answer 
would probably be faulty for two reasons: the increase 
of population may be much faster than the development 
of resources; and further, the economic conditions are 
not so in any country as to make possible the develop- 
ment that will support the greatest possible number. In 
England a landowner may depopulate half a county and 
turn it into a pleasure park for his own personal enjoy- 
ment. In America the centralization of wealth in the 
hands of a few may check development and interfere 
with aproper distribution of the means of sustenance. It 
is calculated that we have room for several times our 
present population, but the areable land is already occu- 
pied; for a dozen years past the waves of western immi- 
gration have been surging against the barriers erected 



2o6 Christianity and Our Times. 

by the arid regions, only to be beaten back by drought, 
considerable districts having been populated and depop- 
ulated in turn. Our cities are generally crowded be- 
yond the possibility of securing employment for all. 

We have lately had it explained to us by Prof. Hux- 
ley, that the fittest to survive in a struggle for existence 
under natural conditions and non-interference, may be 
ethically the worst. This principle would undoubtedly 
hold good in a struggle between races. If it be 
merely a question of surviv al in a struggle for existence, 
those that are willing to adopt themselves to the hardest 
conditions would probably survive. It is apt to be such 
a struggle when the population becomes very crowded. 
Or stated in other words: if it be a mere question of liv- 
ing and propagating, multiplying and filling the earth, 
brute endurance will count more than intellectual and 
moral qualities. The only way in which nations possess- 
ing these qualities could preserve themselves would be 
by using their advantages to prevent or avert this kind 
of a struggle. This, in the United States, can alone 
be done by preventing those from coming here who are 
willing to engage in a struggle for a bare existence on 
the low ground of brute endurance. Most of those 
that are now coming here are of a class that are thus 
willing. 

Among highly civilized nations, rational considera- 
tions will check the growth of population; if times are 
hard and circumstances unfavorable, there is a decrease 
in the number of births and marriages. Among rude 
and barbarous people, internecine feuds and wars will 
generally suffice to prevent overcrowding. It is among 
people of stable government and peaceable habits, but 
not with sufficient intellectual development to overrule 



Impending Struggle of Races. 207 

the emotional and passional in their nature, that over- 
crowding is most likely to occur. Most of the nations 
of the earth at present are precisely in this state of de- 
velopment. In a struggle for existence on equal ground, 
these must necessarily live down and crowd out those 
of a higher civilization, who take counsel with reason, 
and shrink from the struggle. While these consider 
the chances for themselves and their possible offspring 
to get a living, the other class simply multiplies without 
asking what becomes of their offspring. This, however, 
does not die, inured to hardship from infancy, they at 
once act upon the instinct of self-preservation and en- 
gage in a fierce struggle for existence. 

The supremacy of the most civilized nations, like that 
of the English, in most parts of the world in some res- 
pects tends to aggravate the struggle. Interference of 
civilization prevents wars and broils which among rude 
people keep down the population. They also do their ut- 
most to prevent famine, pestilence, infanticide and other 
means by which nature cuts down mercilessly those that 
breed recklessly. If those thus spared have the means 
to emigrate, they will do so, and likely engage their 
would-be benefactors in a struggle for existence, in which 
they easily come out ahead. Civilization also will furnish 
them with the means of emigration. Chinese were never 
known outside their own country till modern steamships 
touched their shores, now they are in all parts of the 
world, and, whatever may be their capacity forfighting, in 
a struggle of brute endurance they easily get ahead of all 
competitors. The relation of England to Ireland furn- 
ishes us with another illustration. As long as Ireland 
was left practically to govern itself, internecine feuds and 
wars kept down the population. When England put a stop 



2o8 Christianity and Our Times. 

to this, it increased enormously and overflowed into 
England and the United States. There are now two mil- 
lions of Irishmen in England, contented with a bare ex- 
istence and willing to struggle for it; they are crowding 
Englishmen out, and takmg their places. Ireland may 
in this way conquer England more effectually than Eng- 
land]ever conquered Ireland. In France the same is 
taking place, but here it is Italians that are proving them- 
selves superior in brute endurance. Not long ago there 
was a battle between French and Italian laborers in the 
south of France, on the part of Frenchmen it was the 
blind striking at what they felt to be a foe, but which in- 
ternational laws do not allow to be so regarded. The 
emigration of foreigners into France is of recent origin 
but already one and a quarter of a million, mostly 
Italians, occupy the places of Frenchmen. They 
are content with lower wages, a bare existence, and a 
harder struggle for it; they naturally take the place of 
those that will not struggle on these conditions. It is 
likewise maintained that in Austria, the German element 
is losing in strength and influence while the Slav the 
Czech and the Jew are gaining. In every case it is the 
highly civilized that is yielding before the less civilized. 

In former ages when population got too crowded, they 
had a simple way of solving the problem. The superflu- 
ous portion was armed and sent to seek homes in other 
lands, which they did by driving- out or exterminating 
the people found in possession, unless they themselves 
were exterminated in the attempt; in either case the 
problem was solved for the time being. Now it is done 
differently; I the superfluous portion of a population arm 
themselves with determination to work for lower wages, 
and endure more for the sake of existence than the people 



Impending Struggle of Races. 209 

of the country they intend to invade. They engage this 
people in a struggle on the ground of brute endurance, 
and if their endurance is greater, if they are willing to 
stand greater hardships, they win in the struggle. 

The time must inevitably come when civilized nations 
will perceive that those who thus come to supersede their 
home population, to fight them down and crowd them 
out in a struggle of brute endurance, are no less enemies 
than if they came with weapons in hand to do the same 
by force. Unless highly civilized nations perceive this, 
prepare to bar out the invader, and prevent the barbaric 
struggle, they must in turn go down, or at least their 
civilization and native population must disappear. 

We are never tired of wondering at the growth of our 
population, but the real cause for wonder in this respect 
lies on the other side the Atlantic. The principal Euro- 
pean nations, excepting France, have increased nearly as 
fast as the United States the last twenty years, and this 
in spite of the fact that in that period of time, ten millions 
of their population have been shifted from their shores to 
ours, and some have emigrated elsewhere. Facts observ- 
able 2 as well as figures would indicate that the native 
population of the northern states is about stationary and 
that the growth of population in these states is almost 
wholly due to immigrants and their children. There 
were according to last census twenty-one millions of for- 
eign parentage in the United States. Immigration and 
natural increase must have added three millions since 
then, and there are besides three or four millions Irish 
and German Catholics, of parents born in this country, 
which have not been assimilated, but must be classed 
with foreigners. These will then at present number 
twenty-seven millions, Of these, less than two millions 



2IO Christianity and Our Times. 

are in fifteen southern states, containing a population, 
blacks and whites, of twenty-three millions. The rest of 
the foreigners, twenty-five millions are in the northern 
states, which in a population of forty two millions leave 
a minority of seventeen millions. These, the native 
Americans, being about stationary while the foreigners 
are rapidly increasing, it remains a question how long 
they can impress the increasing foreign population with 
their race-characteristics and civilization. That they are al- 
ready failing to do so in many cities and localities is an open 
secret. Unless immigrants are of a class willing and cap- 
able of being "impressed" it is plain that the native ele- 
ment will at a no distant date sink to be a mere tribe in 
a heterogeneous population consisting of many races, 
nationalities, languages and religions. 

But it is hoped confidently that this foreign popula- 
tion will be assimilated and transformed into Americans 
in harmony with our civilization and institutions. It is 
hoppd for on the ground that it has been done to a large ex- 
tent in the past. It has been done because immigrants were 
nearly all of nationalities kindred to the Anglo-Saxon, 
but we are facing a new problem now; the greater part 
of immigrants are now of races not allied to the Anglo- 
Saxon, and to the question whether they are likely to be 
assimilated; the experience of the United States gives no 
answer of a decisive character. But we can get this kind 
of an answer from other countries where the race prob- 
lem has been part of their history for centuries, and the 
answer is uniformily that of the negative. Races have a 
tendency to remain faithful to their type and prevent 
amalgamation. The Slav and the German have lived 
side by side for centuries in Bohemia, Transylvania and 
Pther Austrian States, but they are as distinct to-day as 



Impending Struggle of Races. 211 

when they first settled. The Celt and the Anglo-Saxon 
have occupied the small island of Ireland for hundreds of 
years, but they are as far from being one people as hun- 
dreds of years ago. The Anglo-Saxon and the Latin 
have occupied certain provinces of Canada ever since its 
discovery, but they are as distinct and far apart as 
though the channel was between them, indeed much far- 
ther; and this may be said likewise of the Anglo-Saxon 
and the Celt in Ireland, and the German and the Slav in 
Bohemia. Contiguity has only served to intensify their 
peculiarities, and make them more hostile towards each 
other. The relation between them is but an armed truce, 
prevented from breaking out in open hostilities by im- 
perial power. The examples we have named might easily 
be multiplied, but they are near on hand and serve the 
purpose of illustration. That the United States would 
have better luck with its race problem, there is not the 
least reason to anticipate. Neither is there any indica- 
tion of it. Irish and German Catht)lics that came to this 
country two or three generations ago are still known as 
Irish or German Americans; this modification of their 
Americanism would not exist if they had indeed been 
assimilated. The alien population is creating distinct 
quarters in our cities, and exclusive settlements in the 
country, and the influence that will preserve them so is 
as strong here as anywhere in the world. And then, 
where in this country is the imperial or predominating 
power to overcome and rule these contending races, 
nationalities and religions? Not in the native element 
for that is stationary, while the aliens are increasing en- 
ormously, both by immigration and reproduction. 

Americans have it still in their power to regulate 
immigration in conformity to their type and in harmony 



212 Christianity and Our Times. 

with their civilization. About one half of the foreigners 
now in the countryare in sympathy with our institutions, 
and could be depended on to second such an effort; this 
would leave a sufficient balance of power in their hands 
to effect a reform. It should be asked critically and pos- 
itively of every would-be immigrant to this country: I. 
" Has he the character that would make him a desirable cit- 
izen, and the race affinity that would make assimilation 
possible? 2. Is he free from prejudices, religious and 
otherwise, that would leave him subject to foreign in- 
fluence while in this country? 

The test applied would in the first place bar out As- 
iatics. There should be no distinction made, Chinese are 
no more impracticable than other Asiatics. Non-inter- 
ference with Chinese immigration is generally asked for 
in behalf of missionary efforts. But with unrestricted 
immigration, China could heathenize America more in 
one year than we could Christianize China in twenty, and 
the net result woulcf be a great loss to Christianity. 
There is every reason to believe that China had as dense 
a population two or three thousand years ago as it has 
now, when it numbersabout 400,000,000. A healthy, 
industrious, domestic people li}ce the Chinese, will dou- 
ble their population every fifty years. Suppose this 
compound doubling of their number had been going on 
for two or three thousand years, there would have been 
enough Chinamen alive in the world to-day to cover the 
United States many times over. The rest of the 800,- 
000,000 of Asiatics are capable of like expansion; with 
unrestricted immigration, and facilities for coming, they 
could fill this country with a thousand millions in a hun- 
dred years without suffering any decrease at home. Some 
European nationalities that can just as little be Ameri- 



Impending Struggle of Races. 213 

canized are overflowing by the millions every year and 
want room. Must the United States furnish an asylum 
for all, as certain philanthropists insist; even by taking 
thought they cannot add one cubit to the stature of this 
planet, nor extend the area of the United States indefin- 
itly. The way Chinese and other Asiatics have kept 
their population stationary for two or three thousand 
years, when they might have produced enough to peo- 
ple a score of planets, is by the stern law of necessity. 
They will breed like rabbits, and in good years crowd 
the country to its utm.ost capacity; then, when a bad year 
comes along, millions are swept away by famine ; this leaves 
breathing room for awhile, when the same thing is re- 
peated. Pestilence, war and infanticide also help to thin 
out the swarming multitude. No law or love of hu- 
manity can prevent this law of necessity, in some way or 
other it will operate and rule where reason does not. 
Highly civilized nations may abate its cruelties, but it 
should not be at the expense of their own extinction; 
this would not be in the interest of humanity, and would 
not in the end solve the problem. 

The test, if applied, would bar out immigrants sub- 
ject to the influence and control of the Jesuits. This, 
as a distinction, would be less objectionable than any 
which should discriminate against nationalities; a distinc- 
tion of this latter sort would cause great animosity, but 
a distinction against Jesuits and those of their persua- 
sion, or likely to become subject to their control, would 
arouse neither wonder nor ill-will among European na- 
tions, whether Protestant or Catholic. They would un- 
derstand it at once and appreciate the situation, for even 
the most Catholic countries have had experience with 
Jesuitism, and know that it is wholly inconsistent with a 



214 Christianity and Our Times. 

popular form of government, or with any kind of gov- 
ernment except by Jesuits. 

Religion is the principal cause of separation be- 
tween the different races. The difference between the 
Protestants and Catholics is fundamental. Protestant 
churches of various kinds may have the foibles and small 
prejudices, but upon the whole, their aim is purely re- 
ligious, moral and social. The Catholic church is entire- 
ly distinct. Hers is pre-eminently a kingdom of this 
world; her aim is power and control, and everything in 
her policy is subservient to this. The religious senti- 
ment in man is cultivated mainly with a view of making 
it serve as a basis for her power. Education and social 
development is of consequence only as they fit into her 
policy. They are neglected in purely Catholic coun- 
tries, but adopted as defensive measures among Protes- 
tants. The church has not abrogated one jot or tittle 
of her ancient claim. Her plotting for power and con- 
trol never ceases. It is going on in every country, but 
is now more especially centered in the United States. 
It is invidious, restless, unscrupulous and persistent. It 
has sooner or later brought her into conflict with every 
government on earth, whether in Protestant or Catholic 
countries. There can be no peace between the Cath- 
olic church and any government that does not acknowl- 
edge her claim of supremacy. The conflict may be 
smoothed over with diplomacy and soft phrases, but it 
is there all the same, and is an understood matter both 
at Rome and various capitals. 

Catholics maybe good and loyal, but can only be 
so by repudiating and resisting the claims and authority 
of the church. In Catholic countries, the sentiment of 
liberty has been the ruling one for the last hundred 



Impending Struggle of Races. 215 

years, and the majority are on the side of a liberal gov- 
ernment. The tremendous experience of the past has 
so far sufficed to convince them, that the rule of the 
priests is not consistent with civil and religious liberty, 
or the security of life and property. But it is a precari- 
ous matter, even in Catholic countries, to depend upon 
a loyalty that requires Catholics to repudiate and resist 
the claims and pretentions of the church, considering 
the indestructibility of the religious sentiment, how easy 
it may become dominant, and, perverted and misdirected, 
furnish an occasion for the priests. In Protestant coun- 
tries, it is practically idle to do so. Catholics have not 
had the experience of Catholic countries and are not per- 
mitted to read history that will inform them. The 
credit for the advantages of a Protestant civilization, the 
priests take to themselves, and the fact of Protestantism 
enables them to work upon the minds of their adherents, 
to stimulate their prejudices, their sentiment for the 
church, and keep them in abject submission. The 
priest's party of "Clericals" include practically all the ad- 
herents of the church, and they are a distinct factor in 
politics. As such they are looked upon by politicians; 
their support is a commodity in the market to be bought 
by concessions, etc. Their support can be thus bought but 
not their disinterested loyalty, for that belongs to Rome 
alone. How- far Rome may go in demanding "conces- 
sions", and how far politicians may go in acceding to 
the demands, is a matter that is studied with skill and 
care. But the only thing that can stop the church from 
pushing her demands to the full extent of her claim, is 
force. Political offices and emoluments may answer to 
begin with. State appropriations for her denomination- 
al institutions may do for a season; a division of the 



2i6 Christianity and Our Times. 

school fund will next be thought of, but all these will 
only be steps in the process towards the enforcement of 
all that is involved in her principle of supreme rule. 
Plotting, scheming and agressive movements would not 
cease till this is accomplished. The Catholic church 
could not be true to herself if she should rest till she had 
gained all she had lost since the reformation. As long 
as there is a Protestant to protest against her principles 
and doctrines, against her claim to universal rule, she 
must continue the warfare with all the weapons that are 
at her command. Sooner or later the conflict must 
come, here as elsewhere. The State would either have 
to surrender itself or be forced into action. To this it 
has come in every country where the Catholic church is 
strong, and in the nature of the case it cannot be other- 
wise. Force sufficient to overawe and check is the only 
thing that ever stopped her from pushing onward to the ex- 
termination of all opposition, and the only thing she can 
consistently yield to. 

The position of the Catholic church in any country 
that does not allow her claim of supremacy, is an awk- 
ward and unnatural one. She claims the good will of 
the government with which her principles are unalterably 
at war. She claims shelter and protection of a govern- 
ment, which, according to her claims and pretensions, are 
an usurpation, which she is on principle, if not in fact, 
bound to oppose. If the church is called upon to ex- 
plain or defend this position, the answer is evasive and 
equivocative. Now and then a bold spirit will openly ac- 
knowledge the situation as it exists, and plainly tells us it 
means war on principle, and in fact, if they had the 
power. In no case will they deny the principle that the 
church ought to be supreme over the civil power, and 



Impending Struggle ob' Races. 217 

has a right to use the civil power for the enforcement of 
obedience to her will and conformity to her laws. Nor 
will they under any circumstances repudiate their "holy 
fathers" who enforced obedience with fire and sword. 
The best answer the politic ecclesiastics can give, 
and the which in fact they generally give, is in effect: 
that although the church is on principle opposed to tol- 
eration and religious liberty, and opposed to everything 
that opposes her principle, yet as a matter of policy she 
may tolerate. No explanation Rome ever gave, how- 
ever manifestly, for the purpose of gaining confidence 
among Protestants, ever went farther than this. The 
policy of toleration may be adopted for two reasons, first 
because intolerance might endanger her standing and hurt 
her chance of gaining converts among Protestants; and 
secondly, enforcement of the principle may be impossible 
for want of power. Of course both considerations re- 
solve themselves into this, that she tolerates when she 
lacks the power to enforce obedience and submission. 
And as a matter of fact she never yielded the right to 
Protestants except for this consideration. What power 
she possesses in Catholic countries she uses to restrict 
and circumscribe the rights of Protestants as much as 
the civil power will permit. 

Nations like individuals soon forget past experience 
and have to learn the same lessons over again. In 
Catholic countries the experience is so recent that it is 
not forgotten; the church is kept in check by the strong 
arm of the law. In Protestant countries they call it 
courage and liberality to forget and ignore the past, 
which they do not even have the courage to think of 
soberly, or look at with a mind to realize what it meant. 
The wily priests are aping the cant of liberalism, and 



21 8 Christianity and Our Times. 

liberals are transported with hopes of the near conversion 
of the Catholic church. They are in ecstacy over the jest- 
ing. cynical references to liberality made by the priests, and 
catch at it eagerly as a sign that the world is now about to 
drop into beautiful harmony at its own accord, because 
fate and evolution has decreed it. But the Roman ec- 
clesiastics are not fatalists; they do not amuse themselves 
with theories except at the expense of the Protestants. 
They do not wait for things to come about in their favor 
at their own accord. They keep their aim steadily in 
view, and work for it zealously, incessantly and guarded- 
ly. The fatalism of evolution theories is no match for 
them. Protestants may simper and smile and talk sen- 
timent; Rome will smile back till she has the requisite 
power, then the tone changes. Rome will never recon- 
cile herself to the results of the reformation. These results 
were gained only after centuries of bloody wars and per- 
secutions, and the sacrifice of millions of heroes and 
martyrs on the battlefield and the scaffold. A skeptical and 
indifferent population, who have substituted for Chris- 
tianity a sentiment and a theory equally flimsy and su- 
perficial, take it for granted that these results, gained at 
such tremendous cost, will be preserved to them without 
any effort on their part, but while the theorists, senti- 
mentalists and liberals are flying their kites. Rome is 
laying the foundation for renewed struggles to regain her 
ancient power. 

There has of late years been unusual stir in the 
Catholic Church. She has discovered in her system new 
strength, indicated by gains in England and the United 
States, which neither she nor the Protestants suspected. 
In times past she mistrusted her ability to hold her own 
in the presence of truth and enlightenment. She was 



Impending Struggle of Races, 219 

unduly afraid of her own knavery in thinking that her 
adherents would at once fall away if they got a Bible in 
their hands or came in contact with a purer form of 
Christianity. She did not know enough of human nature 
to present with confidence her errors for acceptance in 
the presence of truth. But she has learned now that she 
has little to fear from human nature, or any innate love of 
truth on the part of man. Her accommodations to his 
carnal nature count more with him than the truth which 
is distasteful. So she has boldly put on her best appear- 
ance, and challenged Protestantism in the most enlight- 
ened countries. Her successes in England and the 
United States have buoyed her hopes and strengthened 
her purpose. She has increased her wiles, heightened her 
zeal and enlarged her efforts. Could she gain one of the 
great Anglo-Saxon nations and make a large party in 
the other, it would destroy the balance that now exists 
between Catholic and Protestants. There would be need 
of a stronger sentiment in her favor in Catholic countries, 
but the sentiment of the masses changes readily and she 
is not without ground for hope. From his lair at the 
Vatican, the ecclesiastical tiger is narrowly observing the 
movements of the people of Catholic countries, and 
watching for an opportunity to spring at the throat of 
civil and religious liberty. The readiness with which 
the masses pass from one extreme to the other is under- 
stood, and the anarchy, disorders and general discontent 
may bring about a reaction in favor of religious fanaticism ' 
and ecclesiastical control. The nations have had a little 
time in which to forget their past experience, else they 
would not flee from anarchy to fall into the hands of the 
Catholic Church, for the former is a merciful institution 
compared with the latter. We had better be blown out 



220 Christianity and Our Times. 

of the world at once by the bomb of the anarchist, than 
be taken out of it piecemeal by the slow tortures of the 
inquisition; we had better not be under any law, than be 
under laws that leave us helpless in the hnnds of our 
enemies. 

Her aim and principle is the same, but her policy is a 
matter of circumstances. Where there is no hope im- 
mediately of forcing her way it is not a matter of policy 
to keep her principle of supremacy at the front, which 
alone can be carried by force. It is rather a matter of 
policy in a Protestant country to keep it out of sight, for 
it is here an object to gain confidence and it is not readily 
gained in view of her past history,. It is sufficient that 
her followers are trained to absolute and unquestioned 
obedience, so that they may be ready for anything at all 
times. This training of her followers is her immediate 
concern, and to this end is her policy in the United 
States mainly directed. The priests are wary and active; 
they take charge of the immigrants as they arrive, and 
sequester their children in parochial schools, where they 
are taught submission to the priests, and unqualified 
obedience to the church; where they are fed upon Catho- 
lic tradition, and history perverted and distorted to 
hide the truth, in the lurid light of which the Catholic 
church would look hideous. They are carefully watch- 
ed, controlled and guarded from outside influence, till 
they turn out full-fledged fanatics, such as we have seen 
them in the streets of our own cities; Catholic mobs, 
their faces distorted by malice and ferocity, exhibiting 
the spirit that would love to do the deeds of their 
fathers. And the whole provocation somebody criticis- 
ing their church, or discussing religious questions in 
which it was involved. If the reformers of the sixteenth 



MPENDiNG Struggle of Races. 221 

century had been content to keep their convictions to 
themselves, there would have been no trouble, neither 
would there have been any reformation. 

We should understand what the Catholic church is, 
not to incite to petty spite or jealousies which are whol- 
ly unprofitable, but that we may take a rational and en- 
lightened view of the situation. Let the nation under- 
stand the rules and principles of the church, and deal 
with her in the light of a fair understanding; as it is done 
in Catholic countries where no effort is made on the 
part of either party to slur over the fact of opposition 
and antipathy. The State stands prepared to enforce 
its laws over against the church, and the church respects 
the superior power of the government. Pretentions of 
peace, harmony and sympathy between the church and 
a Protestant, or any other government that rejects her 
claims are silly and hypercritical on both sides. At 
best there can be only peace founded on policy, and the 
nation should understand that force alone makes it policy 
for the Catholic Church to keep the peace. She should 
be recognized for what she is: a danger to every govern- 
ment that rejects her claim to supreme control, and 
measures should be taken to abate and minimize the 
danger as much as possible. A law that would exclude 
immigrants of Jesuital tendencies, would not violate the 
rights nor wound the feelings of European nationalities, 
for they have all had experience with Jesuitism and 
know what it is. It would interfere with nobody's right 
to profess and practice his faith, and stay at home and do 
it. On the contrary, it would press upon them this priv- 
ilege, or else. South America and Mexico are open to 
them, where the Catholic Church and the Latin race 
reign supreme. 



222 Christianity and Our Times. 

Absolute control of immigration is the one means 
and the only one by which the Anglo-Saxon race in 
North America can preserve itself and its civilization. 
The policy of liberalism that refuses to discriminate, 
must give place to the policy of nationalism, that care- 
fully selects those that will make good citizens, and 
rigorously excludes those that do not. We want those 
immigrants that are in sympathy with our civilization 
and government, as much as we do not want those that 
are not. The slight increase of native Americans de- 
mands this as good policy and a needed contribution to 
our population. The nationalities of northern Europe 
kindred to the Anglo-Saxon race, are the only ones 
that can be depended on to make Americans. They 
will not come here if the country is overrun by aliens 
of other races. They will not work in competition with 
them, nor accept the chances they offer for life and se- 
curity. The proof of this is that immigrants of these 
nationalities have decreased in number in proportion as 
those of the other class have increased. They are now 
rather leaving our shores forhome, but the aliens are pour- 
ing in unceasingly. We have to choose between them; 
we can have those that are properly speaking our own, 
or those that are hostile in every instinct of their men- 
tal and moral make up. A tax put upon immigrants 
indiscriminately, or any measure of that sort, would not 
improve the quality, and would therefore not be in har- 
mony with a national policy. It would be cowardly to 
deny ourselves the right to receive those that would be 
a benefit to us, for the sake of an excuse for rejecting 
those we do not want. Any policy that refuses to dis- 
criminate between the two classes is cowardly, unreason- 
able and unpatriotic. Immigrants that are a danger to 



Impending Struggle of Races. 223 

our national life we could not afford to take at any 
price. We could afford to tax ourselves to encourage 
immigrants that would add strength to our national life 
and character. We should encourage them, not because 
they need America, but because America needs them. 
Let alone, the aliens would even now by reason of 
their greater natural increase in time outnumber Ameri- 
cans. The economic conditions of our country that di- 
vide the population between the employer of large 
numbers of men and the, employe, are in their favor; 
they have only to underbid our own workmen to secure 
room for growth and increase. The constructive genius 
of Americans paves the way for them, it does the plan- 
ning and thinking, it gives them chance to take root and 
grow, till they are able to plan for themselves. The 
owners of wealth will derive a temporal benefit from 
the cheapening of labor, but it will be more than counter- 
balanced by the increased insecurity. Their possession 
of the wealth of the country is mere nominal; they can 
keep it only as the masses consent to it. The aliens 
now coming to our shores are not negroes by any 
means, they are of a positive type and of warlike races. 
There will be no more affinity between the Anglo-Sax- 
on, the Latin, the Celt, the Slav in this country than in 
other countries. There is more to keep them apart; 
they do not even have the tradition of a common native 
land as elsewhere, and the United States is so great 
a prize, that races and religions will find it worth the 
while to exert themselves to the utmost to win it. 
Anyone may even now read this in the signs of the 
times. 

When a ship at sea is in danger from a leak, the 
first thing is to stop the influx of water, Americans 



224 Christianity and Our Times. 

have it now in their power to stop the influx of strang- 
ers that threaten to submerge them in the waves of 
their immigration. The power will not stay with them 
very long at the present rate, they had better use it 
while they possess it. It will take an effort to break 
resolutely with past tradition and a past policy, even 
though this policy has no reference to present condi- 
tions. It is easier to drift than to steer our course; 
easier to allow circumstances to rule us than to rule them, 
but we have to undertake to rule circumstances in this 
matter, or become their victims. 

If Americans should make up their minds to take 
the destiny of the nation into their own hands, and de- 
termine it by determining the character of the people that 
is to occupy the country, then this would hasten the in- 
evitable, that is — a reunion with Canada. Our southern 
frontier might be guarded, but the northern of three 
thousand miles would be an open gate, through which 
immigration would pour in scarcely diminished numbers. 
We have already had a proof of this in our effort to 
quarantine against infectious disease. The right to Can- 
ada would have to be settled on its merits, even if force 
had to be used. That the actual or moral right lies with 
the United States, cannot be questioned. England has 
the right of conquest which is no moral or actual right, 
she could not find fauU if she lost by force what she has 
taken by force. The actual or moral right must be based 
first on the material welfare of the people concerned: 
that the unnatural border-line of three thousand miles, 
with its row of custom houses, is a serious hindrance to 
the material development of both countries is evident, 
and as an inconvenience in every way it will increase 
continually. The actual or moral right should also be 



Impending Struggle op^ Races. 225 

considered with reference to natural circumstances, 
chiefly that of contiguity; here again the United States 
has the entire advantage. Canada joins us for three 
thousand miles, but is separated from England by three 
thousand miles. Again, the actual or moral right must 
be considered with reference to the cause of humanity, 
that is, in a moral light. Probably no other considera- 
tion would justify a forcing of the issue. If it became 
clear that the present civilization of the United States, 
with its civil and religious liberty, can only be preserved 
by our occupation and control of Canada then such oc- 
cupation and control would be justified. 

We have not made the wishes of the Canadian peo- 
ple the first consideration in this connection. The shift- 
ing sentiment of an inadequate population would not 
necessarily be the first consideration in a question of this 
magnitude. We have indicated what we believe to be 
higher considerations. However, annexation would not 
be needful for the present purpose. All that the United 
States would want is the sovereignty possessed, not by 
Canada, but by England. The provinces might remain 
what they are unless they applied for admission. 

Undoubtedly the United States could present con- 
siderations that would induce England to part with 
her right in Canada in which is involved to her 
little more than a superficial honor of empire, of which 
she has enough and to spare. A '*dog in the manger 
policy," resting on this, could not forever prevail against 
the weightiest reasons for union with the States. The 
interest England has in the preservation and extension 
of the Anglo-Saxon race should alone be a powerful con- 
sideration for relinquishing her claims; supposing the 
United States make it part of their policy to defend the 



226 Christianity and Our Times. 

interests of their civilization. To this would be added 
the greater security of England herself, in doing away 
with causes for quarrels and disputes which her right in 
Canada is continually exciting. If considerations of this 
sort did not suffice, then the United States might in- 
crease their army and navy and assume a threatening at- 
titude. England, with her interests in all parts of the 
world, would hardly be able to make front against an ad- 
ditional foe of the magnitude of the United States. The 
very burden involved in the increase of her armament in 
order to do so, would be a tremendous undertaking, con- 
sidering what the United States would be able to do in 
that line. 

But, while it would be a heavy task for England to 
make front against the United States, she might be 
greatly benefited by their friendship. In the struggle 
for world-power among European nations, the sympathy 
of Americans is naturally and absolutely with England; if 
the causes for quarrels and disputes were removed, this 
sympathy would become moral, and possibly actual sup- 
port. When the struggle of races for room and domin- 
ion becomes intensified, the Anglo-Saxons will have 
enough to do to keep their present advantages, even 
when united and acting in harmony. 

We can only control our destiny as a nation by de- 
termining the character of our population. The mass- 
ing of opposing races in the United States may not only 
change this final destiny, but may, in a no distant future, 
create complications against which the past ought to 
have been sufficient warning, but history and experience 
avail nothing against the instincts of personal and parti- 
san greed and selfishness. Americans are squabbling 
about the offices and raking in the money, but a higher 



Impending Struggle of Races. 227 

game is being played at present in which the heritage of 
their children and the destiny of the nation is at stake. Yet 
there are but few who do not in some measure perceive the 
damage and danger to the country involved in the pres- 
ent immigration, and even are loud in deploring it, but 
the spell of past sentiment and accustomed policy para- 
lyzes efforts, and it seems impossible to be nerved to ac- 
tion of a definite and adequate sort. Yet it would be a 
great deal easier to regulate and restrict immigration 
than it will be to regulate and put down the disorders 
likely to result from it even in the near future. Tke 
principle involved in restrictive measures is at least noth- 
ing new; the right to regulate immigration has been as- 
serted by the United States, but the measures adopted 
for that purpose are the poorest of excuses. They da not 
even keep out the criminals and paupers they are meant 
to keep out. But the question of fitness is not decided 
by the ability to work and subsist. What makes the 
lowest class of immigrants dangerous is their ability to 
subsist and multiply under circumstances impossible to 
our home population? The questions to be asked are: do 
they make Americans? are they transformed by our civ- 
ilization? do they add strength to the nation, or are they 
a source of weakness? do they identify themselves with 
ournational interests, or do they create distinct issues in 
our national affairs? will they be governed by the spirit 
and principles of our institutions, or do they remain sub- 
ject to foreign influence? 

We must not depend on requests upon foreign gov- 
ernments to regulate immigration in our favor, to select 
for us what we want, and keep back what we do not; re- 
quests of this kind are childish and silly, for we could 
not in reason expect them to take care to send us their 



228 Christianity and Our Times. 

best and keep the worst, and they do not. We must 
ourselves, by our agents or consuls, inspect all would-be 
immigrants on the other side of the Atlantic, and require 
a passport to enable them to land. To allow them to 
cross the Atlantic and then send them back is exasperat- 
ing and unjust. The work and expense involved in this 
would not be very great, for the test might be made very 
simple. The requirement, for instance, of six months' 
previous membership in a Protestant Christian church 
would at once bar out: anarchists, the ignorant and unlet- 
tered, Jesuits and their followers, the aliens, who create 
principalities and power of their own in our midst. It 
would not be essentially a religious consideration; the 
practical consideration of the test would be its efficiency 
in excluding those that are a danger and damage to the 
country, and admitting those that would add strength 
and character to our population. It would not be a test 
against nationalities, and would provoke little protest; if 
any were made, it could be ignored, consistently with 
national honor and safety. That we should be bound 
to receive the off-scouring of all nations is preposterous, 
and any demand to that effect should rouse the in- 
dignation of the nation and meet with a peremptory 
refusal, backed, if need be, by the whole power of the 
government. European countries hold us responsible 
for the immigrants they send over hereno«iatter ofwhat 
character, if they provoke harsh treatment; then dam- 
ages are claimed and war threatened. It is the right of 
America to decide what immigrants she will be responsi- 
ble for, and carefully exclude those for whom she will 
not accept the responsibility. 

THE END. 



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